Even the most intelligent and empathetic people are plagued by psychological pitfalls that prevent them from fully understanding other people.
In fact, we're pretty much hardwired to make mistakes in our judgments of and behavior toward others.
Here, we've rounded up 15 cognitive biases that affect our everyday interactions. The scary part is that most of them happen without us even noticing.
SEE ALSO: 20 cognitive biases that screw up your decisions
Choice-supportive bias
When you choose something, say a boyfriend or girlfriend, you tend to feel positive about it, even if the choice has flaws. For example, you may think your dog is awesome — even if it bites people every once in a while — and that other dogs are stupid, since they're not yours.
Curse of knowledge
When people who are well-informed cannot understand the common man. For instance, in the TV show "The Big Bang Theory," it's difficult for scientist Sheldon Cooper to understand his waitress neighbor Penny.
Empathy gap
Where people in one state of mind fail to understand people in another state of mind. If you are happy, you can't imagine why people would be unhappy. When you are not sexually aroused, you can't understand how you act when you are sexually aroused.
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