Humans (and other animals) are considered cognitive misers. This is some being that conserves mental energy by simplifying the complexity of cognition. It leads to taking mental shortcuts  (heuristics) which can bias behavior.

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

The psychological and neurobiological operations by which information is processed, to build knowledge and understanding that supports decision making.

Cognition

Using heuristics in reasoning under uncertainty leads to predictable biases in behavior.  

Cognitive Bias

Heuristics are mental shortcuts that people rely on to simplify the complex task of forming and maintaining beliefs. Because forming detailed and accurate beliefs requires extensive observation, memory, and analysis, individuals use these efficient cognitive strategies. However, relying on heuristics can sometimes lead to incorrect conclusions.

Heuristics

Cognition refers to the mental process of thinking. It encompasses a wide array of mental activities, including perception, knowledge acquisition, problem-solving, judgment, language, and memory.

Cognition (Thinking)

Aronson, Elliot, and Joshua Aronson. The Social Animal. Worth Publishers, Macmillan Learning, 2018.

The Social Animal

The flow of ideas and associations that can lead to conclusions or actions

Thought

Understanding or awareness of something or the sum total of one's understanding/awareness of all things.

Knowledge

Theories and Perspectives on Cognition

Cognitive Misers

Humans believe that their subjective view of reality is reality. People believe that they see things as they really are and others don't.

Naive Realism

Intelligence is a complex cognitive characteristic involving the capacity to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. It enables individuals to reason, solve problems, plan, and adapt to new situations using logic, understanding, and creativity. Numerous theories have been developed to explain its nature, such as Sternberg's triarchic theory and Gardner's proposal that intelligence comprises multiple factors. Other perspectives also emphasize the significance of emotional intelligence.

Intelligence

Diversity in a group of individuals information, knowledge, representations, mental models and heuristics. It can improve problem solving, predicting and designing.

Cognitive Diversity

The different cognitive tools an individual has - the ways they can think. People have certain talents and skills.

Cognitive Repertoire

Cognitive development refers to the changes in an individual's mental processes. This domain includes the development of learning, attention, memory, language abilities, thinking, reasoning skills, and creativity.

Cognitive Development

Different perspectives, knowledge, attention, processing abilities, skills, and talents.

Cognitive Resources

A state of mind that occurs when there a person holds two or more inconsistent cognitions (i.e., ideas, attitudes, beliefs, opinions, etc.) It results in an unpleasant feeling of mental discomfort and is not the product of a physiological need. This discomfort is hypothesized to be a result of our desire find reason in the world and erase absurdity. Another way at looking at it is that it occurs when our self-justifications conflict. 

Cognitive Dissonance

A measure of analytic thinking and one's tendency to override their initial beliefs. 

Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT)

the awareness, understanding, and adjustment of one’s own thought processes 

Metacognition

Imagination refers to the capability of creating mental representations of concepts, ideas, images, sensations, perspectives, possibilities, or experiences that are not present or accessible in the immediate physical environment.

Imagination

Cognition includes the processes associated with: 
* Perception
* Knowledge
* Problem solving
* Judgment
* Language
* Memory

Components of Cognition

Social cognition refers to the ways in which individuals think about themselves and others. As a key intrapersonal topic in social psychology, it focuses on the mental processes involved in perceiving, interpreting, and remembering information about the social world.

Social Cognition

Cognition is an exceptionally complex process that serves as an essential feature of human consciousness. Despite its central role in shaping conscious awareness, many aspects of cognitive functioning occur unconsciously and are not actively experienced by the individual.

Cognition and Consciousness

- Availability bias
- Negativity bias
- Base rate neglect
- Confirmation bias
- Status quo bias
- Framing effect
- Belief bias
- Hindsight bias
- Propaganda effect
- Bias blind spot
- Egocentric bias
- Fundamental Attribution Error
- Motivated reasoning
- Group-centric bias
- Third person effect
- Cross-group bias
- Ingroup bias
- Memory bias
- Prior Belief bias
- Bias Blind spots


List of biases (and behavioral effects)

A primary drawback of relying on intuition is that intuitive judgments are frequently incorrect. This vulnerability arises because instinctual decisions are driven by cognitive and motivational biases rather than being grounded in logical reasoning, objective facts, or scientific evidence.

Limitations of Intuition

Which of the following best describes the predictable behavioral outcome of relying on mental shortcuts when reasoning under uncertainty?

The use of heuristics is often triggered when certain conditions are met. These mental shortcuts are typically employed in situations characterized by: information overload, time constraints for decision-making, the low importance of the decision, a scarcity of information, or the spontaneous emergence of a suitable heuristic.

Conditions for Heuristic Usage

Our behavior is largely due to factors out of our control and awareness (such as heuristics). However, when we are asked to explain our behaviors, we readily provide reasoning for it while reconstructing the event. It often stems from wanting to look good to ourselves and to others.

Self-justification

- Substituting questions
- Representative heuristic 
- Availability heuristic
- Affect heuristic
- Anchoring 
- Stereotype
- Self-Based Heuristic (SBH)
- Frugal Cognitive Heuristic
- Bandwagon heuristic
- Endorsement heuristic
- Working backwards

Types of heuristics

A number of errors in decision-making may result from an over-reliance on heuristics. These result in cognitive biases:
* Anchoring bias
* Confirmation bias
* Hindsight bias
* Representative bias
* Availability bias

Pitfalls to Problem Solving

A hiring manager has 200 applications for a job but only one hour to create a shortlist. They decide to only review applications from candidates who graduated from the same university they attended. Which of the following statements best evaluates this problem-solving approach?

A common example of relying on heuristics is the tendency to assume a belief is true simply because it is widely shared and makes intuitive sense. This mental shortcut is especially persuasive when the belief is endorsed by perceived experts, illustrating how individuals can adopt conclusions without conducting their own thorough empirical analysis.

Widely Shared Beliefs as an Example of Heuristics

Confirmation bias is the cognitive tendency to selectively focus on cases that validate our pre-existing intuitive beliefs while actively disregarding or forgetting cases that contradict them. This mental shortcut leads individuals to reinforce incorrect assumptions by ignoring disconfirming evidence.

Confirmation Bias

In the context of forming and maintaining beliefs, what are heuristics?

Which of the following best describes cognition?

Which of the following activities is an example of cognition?

Which of the following processes is most directly related to cognition?

Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the concept of cognition?

A significant portion of the brain's cognitive activity, such as perceiving, processing, and organizing information, occurs without our conscious awareness. While we navigate our daily lives, our brains are constantly active, yet most of this underlying mental work goes unnoticed.

Unconscious Cognitive Processes

A practical example of cognition is the mental process of planning daily tasks. This involves contemplating a series of errands, such as visiting the bank, cleaners, and grocery store, and then organizing them in a logical sequence based on factors like timing and location, such as deciding whether to complete them before or after a scheduled class.

Planning Daily Errands as an Example of Cognition

Emotions and memories are powerful forces that actively shape our thoughts and subsequent behaviors. This relationship is not one-way; thoughts also create a feedback loop, influencing and modifying our emotions and memories. This reciprocal interaction highlights the deeply interconnected nature of different cognitive functions.

Reciprocal Influence Between Thoughts, Emotions, and Memories

Scientists who study cognition aim to understand how individuals integrate, organize, and utilize their conscious cognitive experiences, despite being unaware of the vast amount of unconscious work the brain continuously performs.

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