Liking and loving tendency
We distort facts, ignore faults and comply with the wishes of people and things we love.
A standard cognitive distortion. We're systematically more generous in assessing people, ideas, and products we like. We ignore their faults, attribute their failures to external causes, and rationalise their bad behaviour.
The bias is symmetric to its mirror (see [disliking-hating]). Together they explain a huge amount of political polarisation, brand loyalty, and family dynamics.
For operators: watch yourself when judging the work of people you like. The honest version requires explicitly looking for faults you'd notice immediately in someone you didn't like. Also watch your reaction to bad news from a beloved brand or product. You'll underweight it.
Examples in the wild
Hiring managers consistently over-rate candidates they like personally. Structured interviews with multiple interviewers help correct for this. Unstructured 'chemistry' interviews magnify it.
Falling in love with a stock or company is a real risk. Most professional investors have rules to force themselves to re-examine positions periodically as if they didn't already own them.
We over-rate the work of friends and family and under-rate the same work from strangers. Worth correcting consciously, especially when judging anything important.
Liking and loving tendency is one of the mental models we apply through real cases inside the Pareto MBA — a part-time program for professionals who want to think clearly about business.