Cognitive Biases: Heuristics in Psychology

Heuristics

• The representativeness heuristic is useful for making quick judgments but can lead to overlooking individual differences.
• Anchoring and adjustment heuristic involves starting with an initial estimate and adjusting it based on additional information, but can be overly influenced by the initial guess.
• Confirmation bias involves seeking information that confirms our beliefs and ignoring contradictory information, leading to closed-mindedness and resistance to change.

Satisficing

• Satisficing is a heuristic that allows people to make decisions quickly and efficiently by selecting the first option that meets a minimum level of acceptability.
• Satisficing is useful when faced with limited time or resources, but can result in suboptimal decisions if the minimum level of acceptability is too low.
• Satisficing should be used judiciously and in appropriate circumstances, especially when the stakes are high or the consequences of a suboptimal decision are significant.

Availability Heuristic

• The availability heuristic involves making decisions based on how easily we can bring certain examples or experiences to mind.
• This heuristic can be useful when complete information is not available, but can lead to overestimating the likelihood of rare events that are more memorable.

Representativeness Heuristic

• The representativeness heuristic involves making judgments based on how closely something matches our mental image or prototype of a certain category or group.
• This heuristic can lead to assumptions based on mental stereotypes, rather than objective information.

Decision-Making

• People often rely on heuristics or mental shortcuts when making decisions rather than evaluating every possible option and outcome.
• Decision-making research has led to more nuanced decision-making models, such as prospect theory and dual-process theory.
• These models consider the cognitive and emotional factors that influence decision-making and offer a more realistic view of how people make choices in everyday life.

Models of Decision Making

• Models of decision-making are frameworks or theories that explain how individuals make decisions.
• These models help us understand the factors influencing human decision-making and provide insights into people's decision-making strategies.