Decision Making and Heuristics

Decision Making and Heuristics




PS 200 Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
Unit 8 Heuristics
Kaplan University

Heuristics
Heuristics are general strategies that usually generate the right answer. When we are making decisions we sometimes use a heuristic. Heuristics make it easier to make decisions, but sometimes we fail to realize that these heuristics have limits, and we make decisions that are unfitting. If we slow down, we can usually fix the mistake and the end result is a good decision. There are three classic decision making heuristics, representative heuristic, availability heuristic, and the anchoring and adjustment heuristic. (Matlin & Farmer, 2016).
Representative heuristic is a quick decision made based on the assumption that because we see a similarity in two things that there is a going to be other similarities too. The availability heuristic refers to when we rely upon information that is easily accessible instead of examining other options or methods. The anchoring and adjustment heuristic refers to how we estimate situations by thinking about a situation similar to this one and then we adjust our estimate up or down depending on other factors. (Changing Minds.Org, 2016).
CASE STUDY#1
Frank is a 48-year-old father of two whose wife died six months ago in a car accident. Frank says that he was is not dealing with his feelings or emotions just ignoring them, he is more concerned about his relationship with his 14-year-old-daughter. Frank states this is why he decided to seek treatment at this time. Frank feels his relationship with his daughter is going to get worse if he does not learn how to communicate with her. His major concern is that last weekend his daughter went to a football game with what she calls her boyfriend (Frank says she is too young to have a boyfriend), Frank allowed him to come and pick her up so he could meet him. He reminds Frank of some guys he knew in school who had no respect for the girls and he is not happy about his daughter going with...

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