Contrast-Misreaction Tendency: this bias results from a common human propensity to make relative comparisons. Per Munger, this tendency is often exploited by unscrupulous salespeople.  He notes, regarding a common real-estate relocation practice that a “salesman deliberately shows the customer three awful houses at ridiculously high prices. Then he shows him a merely bad house at a price only moderately too high. And, boom, the broker often makes an easy sale.”

A more ubiquitous example of this exploit is the functioning of an ecommerce shopping bot during cart checkout.  The bot presents a would-be buyer with multiple severely overpriced items before presenting an item that is “discounted.”  Never mind the fact that the item is not something that appears on the original shopping list.  The algorithm’s goal is to entice the purchase of the item based on how good it is in comparison to the other presented items.

As is common for all discussed tendencies, this one is forged by evolution.  Life is episodic.  During each situation we are often provided with multiple choices and not all choices provide an equal benefit.  Our ability to contrast or distinguish among options, to make an optimal selection, collectively gives us a survivability advantage.  Awareness of this tendency recasts it as “contrast tendency,” and can remind us that we generally have choices in most situations, even when the available options may not be obvious.  Awareness to automatically contrast options puts us in a better position to exploit this tendency for our benefit. 

• Among our musical divas, Rihanna is an expert practitioner of contrast tendency—the positive side of contrast-misreaction tendency.  In Raining Men, she sings of the many choices she has when it comes to men, proclaiming:

“Men be falling like the rain, so we ain't running out 

Falling like the rain, so we ain't running out 

Falling like the rain, so we ain't running out 

Oh, it's raining men, girl, what you worry 'bout? …

Set your standards lower, boy, you're aiming too high 

Matter of fact, your friend looks better, so goodbye …”  

Stress-Influence Tendency: high stress negatively impacts thinking and decision making. During such times, blood flow is routed away from the prefrontal cortex (the center for reasoning in the brain), slowing down cognitive processing.  Quite literally, pressure induced high stress increases the risk of bad decisions because of induced cognitive impairment.  

Ironically, when we fall in love, the functioning of the prefrontal cortex also slows down and is likely why one can miss so many red flags at the beginning of a relationship.

• Rihanna captures compromised prefrontal cortex processing perfectly in her song Stay.  The signs of disfunction are clear, yet she still wants her lover to “stay.”  Rihanna sings:

“All along it was a fever
A cold sweat, hot-headed believer
I threw my hands in the air, I said, ‘Show me something’
He said, ‘If you dare, come a little closer’...

Ooh, the reason I hold on
Ooh, 'cause I need this hole gone
Funny, you're the broken one
But I'm the only one who needed saving
'Cause when you never see the light
It's hard to know which one of us is caving …

Not really sure how to feel about it
Something in the way you move
Makes me feel like I can't live without you
It takes me all the way
I want you to stay ...” 

Availability-Misweighing Tendency: a propensity to overweigh what is easily available, or top of mind.  It leads to underestimating the importance of data that is more difficult to recall.  Munger offers the following advice: “[a]n idea or a fact is not worth more merely because it is easily available to you." 

Note that a hyper focus on easily remembered facts, which can be greatly influenced by the recency of learning those facts, can lead to an incomplete picture of a situation.  Older and harder to recall factors can be under-weighted, leading to misjudgment. 

• Beyonce succulently captures a consequence of this tendency in Yes, singing: 

“I said yes to your number and yes to you dating me

‘Yes, we can be together, but you gotta wait for me’

The first time I say ‘no’ it's like I never said ‘yes’

(It's like I never said ‘yes’)

I said, ‘Yes, we can be together, yes, you can stay with me’

But when I say, ‘No, not tonight,’ you actin' so ungratefully

The first time I say ‘no’ it's like I never said ‘yes’

(It's like I never said ‘yes’) …”

Use-It-or-Lose-It Tendency: speaks to the tendency to lose a skill or capability from lack of daily practice.  Munger’s thesis appears to be that the more one knows and the longer one remains proficient in what one knows, then the less prone one is to misjudgment. Ultimately, use-it-or-lose-it tendency is a warning against taking something of importance for granted.

• Taylor Swift’s The Story of Us tells of love gone awry, because of the usual: miscommunication, power struggle, and intentional inattention.  Taylor sings: 

“This is looking like a contest
Of who can act like they care less
But I liked it better when you were on my side
The battle's in your hands now
But I would lay my armor down
If you say you'd rather love than fight
So many things that you wish I knew
But the story of us might be ending soon

Now I'm standing alone in a crowded room
And we're not speaking
And I'm dying to know
Is it killing you like it's killing me? Yeah
But I don't know what to say
Since a twist of fate, when it all broke down
And the story of us looks a lot like a tragedy now, now, now  ...” 

Drug-Misinfluence Tendency: In his essay, Munger refers the reader back to the “Simple, Pain-Avoiding Psychological Denial Tendency, which is a common human inclination to deny painful realities, often for the sake of emotional self-preservation.  Ironically, at the extreme, a drug overdose can lead to self-extermination.  Drugs provide a highly destructive and potentially fatal, imperfect escape.  

• Exploring love as addiction, Taylor Swift muses about the possible consequences in Don’t Blame Me: 

“For you, I would cross the line

I would waste my time

I would lose my mind

They say, ‘She's gone too far this time’

Don't blame me, love made me crazy

If it doesn't, you ain't doin' it right

Lord, save me, my drug is my baby

I'll be usin' for the rest of my life …

My name is whatever you decide, and

I'm just gonna call you mine

I'm insane, but I'm your baby

(Your baby)

Echoes (echoes), of your name inside my mind

Halo hiding my obsession

I once was poison ivy, but now I'm your daisy

And baby, for you, I would fall from grace

Just to touch your face

If you walk away

I'd beg you on my knees to stay ...”