Ambiguity aversion

What it is

Preferring a known risk over an unknown one, even when the unknown one might be better.

Related

• Doubt-avoidance tendency bias
  Both reflect discomfort with the unknown: preferring known odds and wanting a quick answer.
• Nirvana fallacy fallacy
  Waiting for a perfect, certain option is a way of avoiding the discomfort of imperfect, uncertain ones.
• Appeal to probability fallacy
  Fear of uncertainty pushes us to treat bad possibilities as certainties.
• Amphiboly fallacy
  Ambiguous phrasing creates uncertainty that we resolve toward the reading we prefer.

Appears in

• The 99 thinking errors in Rolf Dobelli's The Art of Thinking Clearly#80: Ambiguity aversion

References

• Wikipedia: Ambiguity aversion en.wikipedia.org
• The 99 thinking errors in Rolf Dobelli's The Art of Thinking Clearly en.wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia: List of cognitive biases en.wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia: Cognitive bias codex en.wikipedia.org

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