Heuristics Flashcards
What is a heuristic?
A heuristic is a mental shortcut or rule of thumb that helps people make decisions or solve problems quickly.
Heuristics simplify decision-making but may sacrifice accuracy.
What is a cognitive bias?
A cognitive bias is a systematic error in thinking that results from relying on heuristics or other mental processes.
Cognitive biases can lead to predictable mistakes in judgment.
How do heuristics and cognitive biases relate?
Heuristics often lead to cognitive biases because they simplify complex decisions, sometimes at the expense of accuracy.
Heuristics are the cause, while cognitive biases are the effect.
What is the availability heuristic?
The availability heuristic leads people to judge the likelihood of an event based on how easily examples come to mind.
This heuristic explains why rare but memorable events seem more common than they actually are.
What is the availability bias?
The availability bias causes people to overestimate the frequency of dramatic events, like plane crashes or shark attacks, due to their memorability and media coverage.
This bias stems from the availability heuristic.
What is the anchoring heuristic?
The anchoring heuristic occurs when people rely too heavily on the first piece of information they receive when making a decision.
This heuristic affects judgment by making initial information disproportionately influential.
What is the anchoring bias?
The anchoring bias happens when a person is influenced by an initial price or number, even if it is unrelated to the true value of the item.
Common in negotiations, this bias makes people stick to the first figure they hear.
What is the difference between heuristics and cognitive biases?
Heuristics are mental shortcuts that can be helpful but are not always accurate, while cognitive biases are predictable mistakes in judgment that result from using heuristics.
Many cognitive biases stem from heuristics, but they are not the same thing.
