Cover Photo: An illustration of a female student taking an exam, with a suited man behind her, his hands on her shoulders; the pair is refracted into different student-professor duos in the background
Illustration by Sirin Thada for Catapult

Theory of Knowledge

An example of the just-world phenomenon: If anyone found out, they would think I deserved it. When it’s the girl who gets hurt, they always do.

Date: Philosophy 120 T–Th 3:30–4:45

This final exam will count for 40 percent of your course grade.

In the space below, please provide an example of each listed cognitive bias.

Strip off and freeze to death in the hedge

I am afraid.This is what I deserve.

Jess Zimmerman is the author of Women and Other Monsters and an editor at Quirk Books. Her essays and opinion writing have appeared in the Guardian, the New Republic, Slate, Hazlitt, Catapult, and others.