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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

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.

Cognitive Misers

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

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

Cognitive Bias

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.

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