Similarly, availability bias is the tendency for things that are vivid or recent in our minds to play too much of a role in our judgment.

“We can only hold a few things in working memory, so things that are recent, vivid or emotional are easier to recall,” Klein explains. “When we search our brains, those things are more likely to come up.”

Finally, many business decision makers fall victim to confirmatory bias, which is the tendency to see information as more reliable if it fits with what we already believe, and to overlook information that make us question our beliefs.

Jill Klein will speak at the FEAL Fund Executive Forum in February. This article was produced by FEAL in partnership with BNP Paribas Securities Services.