Cognitive bias
Individuals create their own "subjective reality" from their perception of the input.
While cognitive biases may initially appear to be negative, some are adaptive. They may lead to more effective actions in a given context.[5]
Furthermore, allowing cognitive biases enables faster decisions which can be desirable when timeliness is more valuable than accuracy, as illustrated in heuristics).[6]
Other cognitive biases are a "by-product" of human processing limitations[1], resulting from a lack of appropriate mental mechanisms (bounded rationality), the impact of an individual's constitution and biological state (see embodied cognition), or simply from a limited capacity for information processing.
Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman (1972)[11]
Bounded rationality
Bounded rationality is the idea that rationality is limited when individuals make decisions, and under these limitations, rational individuals will select a decision that is satisfactory rather than optimal.[1]
The notion of cognitive biases (...) grew out of their [Tversky and Kahneman's] experience of people's innumeracy, or inability to reason intuitively with the greater orders of magnitude.
Tversky and Kahneman explained human differences in judgment and decision-making in terms of heuristics.
Tversky, Kahneman, and colleagues demonstrated several replicable ways in which human judgments and decisions differ from rational choice theory.
Heuristics involve mental shortcuts which provide swift estimates about the possibility of uncertain occurrences.[12]
Heuristics
Heuristics are simple for the brain to compute but sometimes introduce "severe and systematic errors."[6]For example, the representativeness heuristic is defined as "The tendency to judge the frequency or likelihood" of an occurrence by the extent of which the event "resembles the typical case".[12]
The "Linda Problem"
The representativeness heuristic may lead to errors such as activating stereotypes and inaccurate judgments of others (Haselton et al., 2005, p. 726).
Heuristics are simple decision-making strategies that guide people's behavior and decisions in the social environment when time, information, or cognitive resources are scarce. Social environments tend to be characterized by complexity and uncertainty, and in order to simplify the decision-making process, people may use heuristics¹.
Heuristics are mental shortcuts that allow people to solve problems and make judgments quickly and efficiently. These rule-of-thumb strategies shorten decision-making time and allow people to function without constantly stopping to think about their next course of action³.
Origem: conversa com o Bing, 08/05/2023
(1) Social heuristics - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_heuristics.
(2) Heuristics: Definition, Examples, and How They Work - Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-heuristic-2795235.
(3) (PDF) Heuristics in Social Cognition - ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304183484_Heuristics_in_Social_Cognition.
(4) Heuristics | Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/heuristics.
There are many types of heuristics. Here are some examples:
- Availability heuristic: Making decisions based upon information that is easily available.
- Representativeness heuristic: Making judgments based upon the similarity of one thing to its archetype.
- Affect heuristic: Making decisions based on emotions or feelings.
- Anchoring heuristic: Making decisions based on the first piece of information received.
- Base rate heuristic: Making decisions based on generalizations or stereotypes.
- Absurdity heuristic: Making decisions based on whether something seems reasonable or not.
- Contagion heuristic: Making decisions based on whether something seems contaminated or not.
- Effort heuristic: Making decisions based on the amount of effort required¹.
Origem: conversa com o Bing, 08/05/2023
(1) 21 Heuristics Examples (The Types of Heuristics) - Helpful Professor. https://helpfulprofessor.com/heuristics-examples-types/.
(2) Heuristics: Definition, Examples, and How They Work - Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-heuristic-2795235.
(3) Heuristic - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuristic.
Limitations include the difficulty of the problem requiring a decision, the cognitive capability of the mind, and the time available to make the decision. Decision-makers, in this view, act as satisficers, seeking a satisfactory solution, with everything that they have at the moment rather than an optimal solution.
An example of this being within organisations when they must adhere to the operating conditions of their company, this has the opportunity to result in bounded rationality as the organisation is not able to choose the optimal option.[3]
Therefore, humans do not undertake a full cost-benefit analysis to determine the optimal decision, but rather, choose an option that fulfils their adequacy criteria.[2]
Bounded rationality is the idea that we make decisions that are rational, but within the limits of the information available to us and our mental capabilities. It challenges the rationality assumptions widely accepted between the 1950s and 1970s which were initially used when considering expected utility maximization, Bayesian probability judgments, and other market-focused economic calculations¹.
Origem: conversa com o Bing, 08/05/2023
(1) Bounded rationality - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounded_rationality.
(2) Bounded Rationality - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bounded-rationality/.
(3) What is ‘bounded rationality’? - Economy. https://www.ecnmy.org/learn/you/choices-behavior/what-is-bounded-rationality/.