Model of thinking and decision making

Cognitive load: the used amount of working memory resources.  When our cognitive load is high, ego depletion may occur. In addition, when cognitive load is high, we are more likely to use System 1 thinking.

Cognitive misers: The theory that we tend to minimize the amount of effort to think.

Dual Process Model: The Dual-process model of human cognition postulates that decision-making can be described as a function of both an intuitive, experiential, affective system (System I) and/or an analytical, rational system (System II).

Intuitive thinking: going with one's first instinct and reaching decisions quickly based on automatic cognitive processes

Rational thinking: the ability to consider the relevant variables of a situation and to access, organize, and analyze relevant information (e.g., facts, opinions, judgments, and data) to arrive at a sound conclusion.

Tversky and Kahnemann

Aim: to test the influence of the anchoring bias on decision-making (An anchor is the first piece of information offered to someone who is asked to solve a problem or make a decision

Procedure: A sample of highschoolers were split into two groups \n \n Ascending: participants in this condition were asked to calculate the total of 1x2x-8 \n \n Descending: participants were asked to estimate the total of "8x7x6-1"

Findings:

• Median for ascending group was 512 and median for descending group was 2250 but actual value was 40320
• Anchor is smaller then so is final estimate (1x2 for ascending group) (8x7 for descending group)