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Psychological Phenomena

Jumping to Conclusions

Decision-Making and Judgment Biases

Jumping to conclusions, officially termed the jumping conclusion bias and often abbreviated JTC, also called the inference-observation confusion, is a psychological term for a communication obstacle in which a person judges or decides something without having all the relevant facts, reaching an unwarranted conclusion. It occurs when a person fails to distinguish between what they have directly observed and what they have only inferred or assumed, and because it involves deciding without enough information to be confident of being right, it can give rise to poor or rash decisions.

Facts
Core Claim
Failing to distinguish between what one has observed first hand and what one has only inferred or assumed 1
Classification
Type of Phenomenon
Cognitive Phenomenon 1
Connections

In Branch

Source Wikipedia: Jumping to conclusions
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Jumping to conclusions
  • Lead paragraph, sentence 2
    it is when a person fails to distinguish between what they have observed first hand, and what they have only inferred or assumed
  • lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
    Jumping to conclusions (officially the jumping conclusion bias, often abbreviated as JTC, and also referred to as the inference-observation confusion) is a psychological term referring to a communication obstacle where one "judge[s] or decide[s] something without having all the facts; to reach unwarranted conclusions".
  • In Branch: Cognitive Psychology, Categories
    Wikipedia article 'Jumping to conclusions' is filed under Category:Cognitive biases.
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