En el presente trabajo se discute la pertinencia de considerar a los seres humanos como procesadores eficientes de información. Se efectúa una revisión de los sesgos y errores que las personas habitualmente cometen en sus análisis de la realidad. Se revisan las deficiencias observables en las personas cuando efectúan juicios sobre las relaciones entre dos sucesos (juicios de contingencia), juicios de probabilidad sobre la aparición de un fenómeno dado y, por último, juicios sobre relaciones causa-efecto en contextos sociales (atribuciones causales). Se analizan las posibles consecuencias que, para la vida cotidiana, pueden tener tales limitaciones y se proponen algunas estrategias para remediar o eliminar estos errores cognitivos.
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