Cognitive Biases of Cognitive Biases

The specific, recursive set of errors we make when trying to identify, label, and correct cognitive biases. This includes: Bias Attribution Bias (attributing others' actions to their biases, but your own to circumstances), Fallacy Fallacy applied to biases (dismissing someone's point because you spotted a bias, even if their point is valid), and the "I'm Educated on Biases" Bias (assuming knowledge of bias lists makes you immune to them).

Cognitive Biases of Cognitive Biases Example: You accuse a friend of confirmation bias for only reading news that aligns with her politics. She retorts that your accusation is itself driven by fundamental attribution error (a Cognitive Bias). You then dismiss this as a tu quoque fallacy (a Fallacy Fallacy). This infinite regress of bias accusations is the hall of mirrors created by Cognitive Biases of Cognitive Biases.

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 4, 2026

Biases of Biases

The systematic, structural distortions in which biases get recognized and critiqued within a society or institution. The biases of the powerful (e.g., pro-corporate, status-quo bias) are often rendered invisible or "neutral," while the biases of the marginalized (e.g., advocacy, protest bias) are hyper-visible and pathologized. It's a hierarchy of perceived distortion.

Example: In mainstream political commentary, a politician's bias towards protecting Wall Street is framed as "pragmatic realism," while a activist's bias towards wealth redistribution is framed as "ideological extremism." This is the operation of biases of biases—the rules that determine which perspectives are allowed to be "objective" and which must wear the label of bias.

by Dumu The Void February 9, 2026

Biases about Biases

The preconceived, often simplistic, notions we hold about what bias is and who has it. These are stereotypes about bias itself—e.g., "liberal media bias," "conservative denialism," "academic elitism"—that people use as pre-packaged filters to dismiss information without engaging. It's bias at a meta-level: being wrong about how wrongness operates.

Biases about Biases Example: A viewer immediately dismisses a documentary on climate change because "It's from Netflix, and Netflix has a woke bias." This is not an analysis of the film's evidence, but the application of a bias about bias—a canned ideological shortcut that prevents any actual evaluation of content.

by Dumu The Void February 9, 2026