Nail Biting May Arise from Perfectionism

This is incorrect there was reserved done by a neuroscience called Kahneman. It's called the small number bias where our subconscious mind does not believe that processes are random therefore it constructs a narrative.

If the sample size is to small we are just creating assumptions out of randomness because our subconscious does believe it could be random.

Here are some small details: Kahneman puts much of the blame for people being subject to the bias of small numbers on System 1. This is because system 1:

Eliminates doubt by suppressing ambiguity and automatically constructs coherent stories that help us to explain our observations. It embellishes scraps of information to produce a much richer image than the facts often justify. Is prone to jumping conclusions and will construct a vision of reality that is too coherent and believable. Humans are pattern seekers and look for meaning in their observations. People do not expect to observe regular patterns from a random process and when they do see a potential correlation they are far too quick to reject the assumption that the process is entirely random.

Overall Kahneman believes people are prone to exaggerating the consistency and meaning of what they see. A tendency for causal thinking also leads people to sometimes see a relationship when there isn’t one.

More in depth: Kahneman puts much of the blame for people being subject to the bias of small numbers on System 1. This is because system 1:

Eliminates doubt by suppressing ambiguity and automatically constructs coherent stories that help us to explain our observations. It embellishes scraps of information to produce a much richer image than the facts often justify. Is prone to jumping conclusions and will construct a vision of reality that is too coherent and believable. Humans are pattern seekers and look for meaning in their observations. People do not expect to observe regular patterns from a random process and when they do see a potential correlation they are far too quick to reject the assumption that the process is entirely random. Overall Kahneman believes people are prone to exaggerating the consistency and meaning of what they see. A tendency for causal thinking also leads people to sometimes see a relationship when there isn’t one.

/r/psychology Thread Parent Link - scientificamerican.com