Hello again folks! In today’s bootcamp offering let’s talk about a little something call heuristics, which sounds a little like an 80’s synth band but really is something all our brains use to navigate the constant flood of information they’re exposed to. Let’s crack into it, shall we?
Heuristics are, essentially, mental shortcuts.
These are sometimes used subconsciously, and sometimes in combination — or as a result of — cognitive biases. They are also commonly used when we have little time to make a decision, or have incomplete information, or too much information. Frankly, there are a lot of instances where we fall back on using heuristics, consciously or not.
Usually, it all works out reasonably well. Mostly. Sometimes.
At the end of the day, they’re a shortcut to reaching a decision.
Advantage
The advantage of using heuristics is the savings in time and brainpower that using them affords us. If you need to make a fast decision, you may not have the time for deep thinking about all the potential consequences of your choices. You need to act, and act now. So your brain cuts through the red tape and makes a decision. Or maybe you have incomplete information, but you still have to reach a decision of some sort regardless. And while the results of the decision may not be the best of all options, usually it’s “good enough.”
Disadvantage
The disadvantages of using heuristics is that sometimes the decision made is not “good enough” or even “good.” By shortcutting the decision process, we can be led to make some very incorrect decisions. In short, the very shortcuts we rely on to get us to the decision can lead us astray.
Types of Heuristics
There are a lot of types of heuristics, and I won’t go into all of them here, but did want to hit on a few of the most common. So let’s take a look:
Availability Heuristic
In this heuristic, our brains grab onto the most readily available information — what we most recently learned, what is the first thing we think about, etc., to make decisions.
Attribute Substitution
Replacing simpler but related things in place of more complex concepts or questions.
Representativeness Heuristic
Making decisions on “surface appearance” and assumptions connected to that appearance. This one is the cause of a lot of stereotyping and prejudice. Someone predisposed to believe POC are dangerous are more likely, on seeing a black man on the sidewalk walking towards them, to make the snap decision to step into a store or cross the street or something of that nature, because of this heuristic.
Familiarity Heuristic
Basing decisions on places, events, information or experiences that we are familiar with. Given a choice where we dive into something unknown or take a more familiar route, this heuristic will steer us toward the more comfortable and familiar.
Affect Heuristic
The “Gut Feeling” heuristic, this one is based on our emotional response to choices available. This one can be influenced by our current mood, as people in a positive mood tend to see choices in a more positive light whereas someone in a negative mood will probably focus more on the downsides of potential choices.
Anchoring Heuristic
I discussed anchoring a bit in a previous bootcamp entry, but in essence we tend to latch onto one piece of information and use it as the bedrock for further decision making. Usually this is a recent piece of information. Anchoring is often used in negotiations — usually the first person, for example, to put out a price on something being haggled over will be the person to “anchor” the discussion around that number.
Summary
There are many more heuristic examples, these are just a handful of common ones we use or run into on pretty much a daily basis.
But it’s easy to see, when you think about it, how heuristics can tie into cognitive biases. When we are making relatively snap decision and not taking time to carefully consider all the information, it is easy to fall into the traps of one of more cognitive biases.
But life being what it is, we can’t avoid using them. It’s the nature of our brains, and of life, that sometimes we have to make decisions rapidly and/or based on incomplete information, and we need some process by which we can do that, or suffer “analysis paralysis” which can be worse than making no decision at all.
Until next time, folks!