Bias × SAT Matrix

Query: Which SAT controls which cognitive bias?

Quick-reference cross-index. For detail on any entry, follow the wikilinks to the individual bias or SAT pages.

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Matrix: SATs → Biases Controlled

SAT	Primary Biases Controlled
Key Assumptions Check	Anchoring Bias · Confirmation Bias · Motivated Reasoning · Overconfidence Bias · Status Quo Bias
Quality of Information Check	Overconfidence Bias · Confirmation Bias · Availability Heuristic · Anchoring Bias
Indicators or Signposts of Change	Availability Heuristic · Status Quo Bias · Hindsight Bias · Overconfidence Bias
Analysis of Competing Hypotheses (ACH)	Confirmation Bias · Anchoring Bias · Availability Heuristic · Motivated Reasoning · Groupthink
Devil’s Advocacy	Confirmation Bias · Groupthink · Motivated Reasoning · Status Quo Bias · Mind-Set
Team B	Groupthink · Motivated Reasoning · Confirmation Bias
Low-Probability Analysis	Availability Heuristic · Overconfidence Bias · Status Quo Bias
What If? Analysis	Hindsight Bias · Status Quo Bias · Overconfidence Bias · Confirmation Bias
Brainstorming	Groupthink · Anchoring Bias · Framing Effect · Availability Heuristic
Outside-In Thinking	Mirror Imaging · Framing Effect · Availability Heuristic
Red Team Analysis	Mirror Imaging · Framing Effect · Availability Heuristic
Alternative Futures Analysis	Status Quo Bias · Availability Heuristic · Anchoring Bias · Overconfidence Bias · Hindsight Bias

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Inverse Matrix: Biases → SATs That Counter Them

Bias	SATs That Counter It	Coverage
Anchoring Bias	ACH · Key Assumptions Check · What If? · Brainstorming · Alt Futures	Strong — 5 techniques
Availability Heuristic	ACH · High-Impact/Low-Prob · Alt Futures · Indicators · Quality of Info · Outside-In · Red Team · Brainstorming	Strong — 8 techniques
Confirmation Bias	ACH · Devil’s Advocacy · Key Assumptions Check · Team A/B · Quality of Info · What If?	Strong — 6 techniques
Groupthink	Devil’s Advocacy · Team A/B · Brainstorming · Red Team · ACH	Strong — 5 techniques
Motivated Reasoning	ACH · Devil’s Advocacy · Key Assumptions Check · Team A/B	Moderate — 4 techniques
Overconfidence Bias	Key Assumptions Check · Quality of Info · High-Impact/Low-Prob · ACH · What If? · Alt Futures · Indicators	Strong — 7 techniques
Mirror Imaging	Red Team · Outside-In Thinking · Alt Futures · Devil’s Advocacy	Moderate — 4 techniques
Framing Effect	Outside-In Thinking · Brainstorming · Alt Futures · Key Assumptions Check · Red Team	Moderate — 5 techniques
Hindsight Bias	What If? · Alt Futures · Indicators/Signposts · Key Assumptions Check	Moderate — 4 techniques
Status Quo Bias	What If? · Alt Futures · Devil’s Advocacy · Key Assumptions Check · High-Impact/Low-Prob · Indicators	Strong — 6 techniques
Mind-Set	All SATs broadly; Key Assumptions Check most directly	Comprehensive

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Coverage Gaps

Biases with thinner SAT coverage (fewer than 4 techniques):

Bias	Coverage	Notes
Mirror Imaging	4 techniques	Red Team is the primary; others are indirect. No dedicated diagnostic technique equivalent to ACH for adversary modeling.
Hindsight Bias	4 techniques	What If? is the primary; other techniques provide partial coverage.

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Most Versatile SATs (By Bias Coverage)

Rank	SAT	Biases Addressed
1	Key Assumptions Check	5 biases (anchoring, confirmation, motivated reasoning, overconfidence, status quo)
2	Analysis of Competing Hypotheses (ACH)	5 biases (confirmation, anchoring, availability, motivated reasoning, groupthink)
3	Alternative Futures Analysis	5 biases (status quo, availability, anchoring, overconfidence, hindsight)
4	Devil’s Advocacy	5 biases (confirmation, groupthink, motivated reasoning, status quo, mind-set)
5	What If? Analysis	4 biases (hindsight, status quo, overconfidence, confirmation)

Implication for LLM agent design: If you can only add one SAT-inspired pattern to an LLM agent, Key Assumptions Check and ACH have the broadest bias coverage. If you are building a multi-agent system and can only add one structural intervention, Devil’s Advocacy (adversarial review gate) addresses the biases most likely to cause compounding errors across agent turns.

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LLM-Specific Bias Coverage

Cross-reference to SATs for LLM Agents for implementation patterns:

LLM Failure Mode	Analogous Bias	Best SAT Adaptation
Sycophancy	Confirmation Bias + Groupthink	Devil’s Advocacy (adversarial review gate)
Hallucination with confidence	Overconfidence Bias	Key Assumptions Check (premise audit) + Quality of Info Check
Prompt anchoring	Anchoring Bias	ACH multi-hypothesis prompting; separate generation from evaluation
Premature closure	Anchoring Bias + Status Quo Bias	ACH; What If? pre-mortem
Persona capture	Mirror Imaging	Red Team (explicit adversarial persona prompt)
Multi-agent echo chambers	Groupthink	Team A/B architecture (different models/prompts); independent parallel analysis
Chain-of-thought confirmation	Motivated Reasoning	ACH disconfirmation prompting; premise audit at each step
Context recency weighting	Availability Heuristic	Indicators list (prospectively defined criteria resist recency drift)

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See Also

Structured Analytic Techniques | Cognitive Bias | SATs for LLM Agents