Heuristics
Mental Short Cuts
Heuristics are mental shortcuts that enable you to make judgments and solve problems promptly and efficiently.
Heuristics are "rule-of-thumb" strategies that shorten your decision-making time and allow you to function without having to take the time to think around and through a potential decision.
Offset against these benefits are cognitive biases and distortions which will mislead you into reaching the wrong conclusion or at least a sub-optimal outcome.
There are many decisions that you make on a daily basis that benefit from the use of heuristics and are often based on analogy or "what has go before", "what we did last time" or "what they always do".
The
availability heuristic involves making decisions based upon your ease
and speed of recall of what you think are comparable situations or
example. The
distortion occurs when your brain mistakes the ease and speed of
recall for the frequency and likelihood of the situation occurring. For
example, I can recall visiting the US shortly after the 9/11 event and
many of friends and relatives I met at a family wedding in Boston were
surprised - and in some case astonished - that I was prepared to fly! Excessive
media coverage is a common cause of this happening where the media
overdrive and sensationalism of a dramatic or tragic event can cause
such events to become more available to your memory recall which in turn
leads you to wrongly conclude that the event or situation is more
common than in reality is the case.
The
representativeness heuristic involves making a decision by comparing the
present situation to the most representative mental prototype. In
other words we select the nearest "best fit" of a prior situation and,
disregarding the inherent assumptions in that selection, we reason by
analogy and make a present decision based on that past "best fit". So
for example, you may see someone dressed in a smart business suit who
presents themself well, and assume that he/she is an efficient competent
business person. Whereas in reality they may be a con-artist. Think of
the film "The Sting" with Paul Newman and Robert Redford.
The
affect heuristic involves making choices that are influenced by the your emotional state at the time of making the decision. This
is why it is never wise to make an important decision when you have
been drinking alcohol, or are tired, or feeling heavily stressed. Your emotional state can - and probably will - influence your decision-making process. Return to: Cognitive Distortions3 Commonly Used Heuristics
1. Availability Heuristic
2. Representativeness Heuristic
3. Affect Heuristic
As
a personal example, I am very aware that my immediate response to being
asked to make a decision about something that I hadn't previously
considered, my initial response will invariably be negative. So knowing
this, I always defer making the decision until I have had 24-48 hours to
reflect. More often than not, my considered decision will be positive.
Recommended Further Reading: Heuristics and Biases in Military Decision Making by Major Blair S. Williams, U.S. Army
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