Hindsight bias relates to the common expression “hindsight is 20/20.” This expression captures the tendency for people to regard past events as expected or obvious, even when, in real time, the events perplexed those involved. More formally, one might say that after learning the outcome of a series of events—whether the outcome of the World Series or the steps leading to a war—people tend to exaggerate the extent to which they had foreseen the likelihood of its occurrence. It is the tendency to exaggerate, after learning an outcome, one's ability to have foreseen how something turned out. Also known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon.

Related Articles

Personal control at psychology-glossary.com■■■■
Personal control is the belief that what one does has an influence on the outcome of an event. Personal . . . Read More
Magical thinking at psychology-glossary.com■■■■
Magical thinking refers to a peculiarity of thinking in which an individual makes a connection between . . . Read More
Optimistic bias at psychology-glossary.com■■■
Optimistic bias refers to the belief that other people, but not oneself, will develop a disease, have . . . Read More
Illusion of control at psychology-glossary.com■■■
Illusion of control: Illusion of control refers to a bias that occurs when people overestimate the co-variation . . . Read More
Actor-observer difference/bias/effect at psychology-glossary.com■■■
Actor-observer difference/bias/effect refers to the tendency to see other people’s behaviour as dispositionally . . . Read More
Defensive bias at psychology-glossary.com■■■
Defensive bias the tendency for people to perceive themselves as personally and situationally similar . . . Read More
False uniqueness bias at psychology-glossary.com■■■
False uniqueness bias refers to the mistaken tendency to think of oneself as being better than most other . . . Read More
Hostile expectation bias at psychology-glossary.com■■■
Hostile expectation bias refers to the tendency to assume that people will react to potential conflicts . . . Read More
Correspondence bias at psychology-glossary.com■■■
Correspondence bias refers to the the tendency to assume that people’s actions and words reflect their . . . Read More
Own-race bias at psychology-glossary.com■■■
Own-race bias is the tendency for people to more accurately recognize faces of their own race. Moreover, . . . Read More