Cognitive biases impact all of us, adults and young people alike, and they often lead our decisions in unintended directions. Many cognitive biases occur as a result of the heuristics, or mental shortcuts, that our quick automatic system frequently employs. In this lesson, students will experience both the difference between automatic, fast thinking, and effortful, deliberate thinking, and examples of surprising errors our minds can make. They will be introduced to the idea that our fast thinking, while extremely helpful, can lead to errors called cognitive biases.

• Students will experience the difference between System 1 and System 2 thinking and understand that System 1, while incredibly important, is more easily prone to errors called cognitive biases.