Biases
Mary is very afraid of cats, Chris loves cats. One day they see a child chasing a cat, and continuously grabbing its tail. The cat hisses at the child. Mary sees a vicious attack on an innocent child, while Chris sees a cat trying to defend itself against a cruel child. It is clear they both see this situation differently. What bias is this?
Confirmation Bias
Why do we use heuristics?
In-depth thinking requires a lot of mental energy, heuristics create shortcuts to make decisions without in-depth thinking.
Biases result from thinking with which system?
System 1
Maggie took advantage of LIFE magazine's three month free subscription promotion, but after the three month trial was over she never got around to canceling the subscription. She doesn't have time to read these magazines, yet she continuously pushes off canceling the subscription. What bias is this?
Status Quo Bias
Alice is an introverted librarian at a private school. She also works a second job on on weekends. She is either a stand-up comedian, a bartender, or a research assistant. She asks her colleague Steve to guess which one it is, and Steve guesses the research assistant. Which heuristic is this?
Representativeness Heuristic
Out of the two (bias or heuristic), which one is a closer representation of reality?
Heuristic, because it has been proven to work in past situations. But, neither are completely accurate representations of reality.
Jim claims that he has the best sense of direction because he is able to find his way around Boston easily. Jim and his friend Shane are planning a cross-country road trip this fall and Jim is confident that they will not need directions because he is an expert. They end up lost and needing to use their GPS. What Bias did Jim have?
Overconfidence Bias
Jeff wants to start his own beer company, but he realizes there is too much competition, he doesn't know a lot about the brewing industry, and he doesn't have enough money for the amount of space a brewery requires. Due to these difficulties, Jeff decides to look into other industries. What heuristic is this?
Availability Heuristic
What is the difference between a bias and a heuristic?
Bias: A belief or influence usually based on your personal preference or how you want to be perceived socially.
Heuristic: Rule of thumb, mental short-cut, evaluation of a situation based on experience of lessons learned.
Jenny and Ben go to a Red Sox game and Jenny tells Ben that she feels the Red Sox will win. As it turns out, the Red Sox did win the game. Jenny shouts "I knew it all along!". What bias does Jenny have?
Hindsight Bias
Stacey is a used car saleswoman. She always sets the initial price high because she knows that the customer will try to negotiate. When she sets the initial price high, the final price is always higher than if she originally offered a low or fair price. What heuristic is this?
Anchoring & Adjusting Heuristic
Because heuristics involve mental shortcuts to categorize/classify people, they can lead to ____.
Stereotypes/Prejudice/Biases
The new IOS 18 has just been developed and everyone rushes to download it because they believe that it must be better than IOS 17. It turns out IOS 18 has so many bugs that it slows down overall processing time. Even after hearing this, people are still downloading IOS 18. What bias is this?
Novelty Bias
Mike's friends, Rob and Tina, asked him to get breakfast with them on Saturday morning and Mike agreed to go. On Friday night Mike was up very late writing a research paper. He was exhausted and didn't feel like socializing. Mike asks his friends to reschedule. What heuristic is this?
Affect Heuristic
Matt was walking to class one day when he noticed an attractive girl waiting for the bus. He immediately wanted to get to know her because he imagined she must be very sweet and intelligent. What effect is this?
Halo Effect