Understanding Heuristics and Cognitive Biases

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts for quick judgments and decisions.

Cognitive Miser

A person who conserves mental resources.

Availability Heuristic

Judgment based on how easily examples come to mind.

Example of Availability Heuristic

Instances of assertiveness affect self-rating.

Representativeness Heuristic

Classifying based on typicality of a category.

Example of Representativeness Heuristic

Steve's traits lead to biased categorization.

Ignoring Base-Rate Information

Disregarding actual probabilities in judgments.

Base-Rate

The actual likelihood of an event occurring.

Shark Attack Statistics

22 deaths from shark attacks vs. 1,857 from lightning.

Anchoring & Adjustment

Starting with an initial value and adjusting from it.

Example of Anchoring

Estimating age based on a reference point.

Attitude Heuristic

Judgments influenced by prior beliefs or attitudes.

Cognitive Efficiency

Using heuristics to save mental energy.

Schemas

Cognitive frameworks that help organize information.

Automatic Processing

Unconscious and unintentional mental operations.

Judgment Errors

Heuristics can lead to inaccurate decision-making.

Mental Shortcuts

Simplified strategies for problem-solving.

Self-Assessment Bias

Influence of examples on perceived assertiveness.

Traffic and Timing Bias

Perception of traffic patterns based on experiences.

Heuristic Limitations

Heuristics may not always yield accurate results.

Cognitive Bias

Systematic patterns of deviation from norm or rationality.