A cognitive bias in which a person thinks they knew in advance how an event would turn out in the past, even if they could not have known in advance. The bias of the retrospective view gives the illusion of predictability and control over events. One of the reasons for retrospective bias is the metacognitive factor: when people easily understand how and why a particular event happened, the event can begin to seem easily predictable. Another factor identified as the cause of this cognitive bias is motivational: people like to think of the world as a predictable place that reduces anxiety.