Heuristics

Heuristics

Time-saving mental shortcuts that reduce complex judgements into simple rules of thumb

What are the four bias heuristics

• WHAT

• WHAT

• WHAT

• WHAT

What are the two bias heuristics

• Representativeness

• Availability

• False consensus effect

• Anchoring heuristic

Representative heuristics are what

The tendency to allocate a set of attributes to someone if they match the prototype of a given category (easy way to put people into categories) 

What is the error that occurs with representative heuristics

• WHAT

• WHAT

• Base rate fallacy

• Stereotype threat

Base rate fallacy

The tendency to ignore statistical information (base rates) in favour of representative information

example:

• thinking immigrants have a higher crime rate, but the opposite is true

Stereotype threat

Individuals experience anxiety or distraction when they worry their performance will confirm a negative stereotype about a group they belong to

Example:

• Makes it difficult for women to progress in ‘male’ occupations and vis versa

Availability heuristic

The tendency to judge the frequency or probability of an event in terms of how easily we think of examples of that event

Example:

• scared to go on a plane after hearing about a plane crash)

Availability heuristic

• It occurs because of how quickly the information was WHAT to you

• Very WHAT

• People seem to attend to the WHAT of retrieving instances of certain behaviours and not just the WHAT

Availability heuristic

• It occurs because of how quickly the information was ACCESSIBLE to you

• Very SUBJECTIVE

• People seem to attend to the DIFFICULTY of retrieving instances of certain behaviours and not just the CONTENT

Availability heuristic - Schwarz and collegues ’ experiment

• Asked participants to recall either 6 or 12 of their own assertive and unassertive behaviour

• Results:

• 6 = easier to think of assertive things so you think your assertive

• 12 = Harder to think of assertive things so become more unassertive

What are two errors within the availability heuristic

• WHAT

• WHAT

What are two errors within the availability heuristic

• Processing fluency

• Perceptual salience

Processing fluency

the extent to which something is easy to think about or understand

Perceptual salience

The most salient perceptual information dominates a person's perception of the situation.

False consensus effect is a type of WHAT heuristic

False consensus effect is a type of AVAILABILITY heuristic

False consensus effect

he tendency to exaggerate how common one’s own opinions are in the general population

Why does the false consensus effect occur

our own self-beliefs are easily recalled from memory, making them more available when we are asked to judge if others agree with us (availability heuristic)

The anchoring heuristic

The tendency to be biased towards the starting value (or anchor) in making quantitative judgements 

The anchoring heuristic:

• The starting point (anchor) impacts our judgment because it is the most WHAT source of information relevant to the issue at hand - similar to the WHAT heuristic 

The anchoring heuristic:

• The starting point (anchor) impacts our judgment because it is the most AVAILABLE source of information relevant to the issue at hand - similar to the AVAILABILITY heuristic 

Anchoring heuristic - Plous experiments

• Asked whether there was a 1% chance or 90% chance of a nuclear war. 1% said there was a 10% chance, 90% said there was 25% chance (made a guess based on the starting information given)