Feature-Positive Effect

We overweight information that is present and underweight information that is absent. We are drawn to what we can see and systematically blind to what isn't there.

• Doctors focus on the symptoms a patient has, systematically underweighting the significance of symptoms a patient does not have — which can be equally diagnostic.
• Investors assess a company based on what its annual report contains, not on what it omits — the absence of discussion about a key risk is itself a red flag that gets ignored.
• We judge a person by what they say rather than what they don't say — silence and omission can be the most informative signals.