Part of Chapter 9 Flashcards
rational choice theory
the classical view that we make decisions by determining how likely something is to happen. Judging the value of the outcome, and then multiplying the two
frequency
the number of times something will happen
probability
the likelihood that something will happen
people perform better on:
frequency than probability estimates
availability bias
Items that are more readily available in memory are judged as having occurred more frequently
heuristic
a fast and efficient strategy that may facillitate decision making but does not guaruntee that a solution will be reached
algorithm
a well-defined sequence of procedure or rules that gauruntees a solution to a problem
conjunction fallacy
when people think that two events are more likely to occur together than either individual event
representativeness heuristic
a mental shortcut that involves making a probability judgement by comparing an object or event to a prototype of the object or event
framing effects
when people give different answers to the same problem depending on how the problem is phrased (or framed)
sunk-cost fallacy
a framing effect in which people make decisions about a current situation based on what they have previously invested in the situation
prospect theory
the proposal that people choose to take on risk when evaluating potential losses and avoid risks when evaluating potential gains
frequency format hypothesis
the proposal that our minds evolved to notice how frequently things occur, not how likely they are to occur
means-end analysis
a process of searching for the means or steps to reduce differences between the current situation and the desired goal.
steps to means-end analysis:
- analyze the goal state (outcome desired)
- analyze the current state
- list the differences between the current state and the goal state
- reduce the list of differences by
ill-defined problem
one that does not have a clear goal or well-defined solution path
well-defined problem
one with clearly specified goals and clearly defined solution paths
analogical problem solving
solving a problem by finding a similar problem with a known solution and applying that solution to the current problem
(ex: entering a castle through many bridges, destroying a tumor with many small xrays)
functional fixedness
the tendency to percieve the functions of objects as fixed
reasoning
a mental activity that consists of organizing information or beliefs into a series of steps to reach conclusions
practical reasoning
figuring out what to do, or reasoning directed toward action
theoretical reasoning
reasoning directed toward arriving at a belief
belief bias
people’s judgements about whether to accept conclusions depend more on how believable the conclusions are than on whether the arguments are logically valid
syllogistic reasoning
determining whether a conclusion follows from two statements that are assumed to be true
