Cognitive Heuristics and Decision Making

A set of flashcards covering key concepts related to cognitive heuristics, decision making, and relevant academic reminders.

Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic

A mental shortcut where individuals rely too heavily on an initial piece of information, the anchor, making insufficient adjustments when making judgments or estimates.

Availability Heuristic

A cognitive bias where people think something is more likely to occur because it is easily recalled or fresh in their memory.

Representativeness Heuristic

A judgment based on how similar an object or individual is to a stereotype or ideal.

Attribute Substitution

A decision-making process where an individual substitutes a complex question with a simpler one when the needed information is not readily available.

Type 1 Processing

Fast, automatic, and intuitive decision-making based on heuristics; prone to errors.

Type 2 Processing

Slow, deliberate, and logical decision-making that uses evidence-based reasoning.

Affect Heuristic

A mental shortcut that relies on emotions and feelings to make decisions.

Base Rate Neglect

The tendency to ignore statistical information (base rates) when making judgments about specific instances.

Plea Bargaining

A legal negotiation in which an accused person pleads guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Office Hours

Designated times when students can meet with instructors or teaching assistants to discuss course material.

Bayes Theorem

A mathematical formula that describes how to update the probability of a hypothesis based on new evidence.