Concept · Cognitive Bias: Decision-making and judgment biases
Distinction bias
Origin: Hsee & Zhang, 2004
Biological Parallel
Side-by-side, honeybees reliably distinguish flowers with 20% versus 30% nectar concentration; experienced separately, both rate as 'acceptable,' and the difference vanishes. Joint evaluation magnifies differences; separate evaluation relies on absolute thresholds. Evolution built comparative processors for simultaneous choices (two mates at the lek, adjacent territories), not sequential modern decisions. The bias reveals that 'better' requires context—your mind literally lacks hardware for context-free value assessment.