PSC 152 EXAM 4 WITH 100% VERIFIED SOLUTIONS!!
What are heuristics?
mental shortcuts for making judgments quickly & with little effort.
Big 3 heuristics: Representativeness, Availability, Anchoring & Adjustment
What is satisficing?
opting for "good enough" solutions rather than optimal solutions (optimizing.)
Useful, but can lead to errors & biases
What is the representative heuristic?
-using similarity as cue for making judgments.
(judge whether something belongs to a category based on how similar it is to a typical
example of that category.)
-neglect useful info & rely only on similarity
(following a perceived pattern, even if it conflicts with logic or statistical probability.)
Can lead to errors & statistically incorrect judgments.
How is the representative heuristic illustrated by base-rate neglect, the gambler's
fallacy, failures to observe the conjunction rule, and failures to appreciate regression to
the mean?
,1) base rates: general frequency of an event (What's the probability that Jack is an
engineer? Better Q: How similar is Jack to engineers?)
2) gambler's fallacy: coin flip probabilities (picking the most 'random' representation)
(Neglect independence of chance events, like coin flip (50% chance, so any pattern is
equally possible, but ppl made assumptions based on previous pattern.)
3) Conjunction rule (Linda is banker vs Linda is banker + feminist)
4) regression to the mean: extreme outcomes tend to be followed by less extreme ones
(sophomore slump, movie sequels, band's 2nd album, hot hand in basketball,
jinx/Madden curse, etc.)
What is the availability heuristic? Does it always lead to incorrect responding?
-using ease of recall as cue for judging frequency/ likelihood of an event
(more likely to die of diabetes vs homicide; tornado or lightning)
-usually, availability heuristic serves us well (e.g. things that happen more often should
come to mind more easily)
-but, it can lead us astray (e.g. vivid anecdotes & other accessible info can have
exaggerated influence)
, How is the availability heuristic illustrated by the study where couples were asked about
contributions to household chores?
-married couples estimated personal contributions to joint activities
-results: couples' estimates always summed to be > 100%
-our own contributions are more available to us, which leads us to over-claim
responsibility
What does Schwarz et al.'s study in which Ps were asked to recall either a small or large
# of instances of assertive behavior illustrate about the availability heuristic?
-Ps recalled 6 (easy #) vs. 12 (difficult #) instances of assertive behavior
"how assertive are you?" rated themselves.
-results:
-recall 6: 6.3
-recall 12: 5.2
-Ps rate themselves as less assertive when they are required to think of more instances
in which they were assertive
(it's harder to think of 12 than 6 instances)
What is the anchoring-and-adjustment heuristic?
during judgment, often start with initial reference point (anchor) & adjust to reach final
What are heuristics?
mental shortcuts for making judgments quickly & with little effort.
Big 3 heuristics: Representativeness, Availability, Anchoring & Adjustment
What is satisficing?
opting for "good enough" solutions rather than optimal solutions (optimizing.)
Useful, but can lead to errors & biases
What is the representative heuristic?
-using similarity as cue for making judgments.
(judge whether something belongs to a category based on how similar it is to a typical
example of that category.)
-neglect useful info & rely only on similarity
(following a perceived pattern, even if it conflicts with logic or statistical probability.)
Can lead to errors & statistically incorrect judgments.
How is the representative heuristic illustrated by base-rate neglect, the gambler's
fallacy, failures to observe the conjunction rule, and failures to appreciate regression to
the mean?
,1) base rates: general frequency of an event (What's the probability that Jack is an
engineer? Better Q: How similar is Jack to engineers?)
2) gambler's fallacy: coin flip probabilities (picking the most 'random' representation)
(Neglect independence of chance events, like coin flip (50% chance, so any pattern is
equally possible, but ppl made assumptions based on previous pattern.)
3) Conjunction rule (Linda is banker vs Linda is banker + feminist)
4) regression to the mean: extreme outcomes tend to be followed by less extreme ones
(sophomore slump, movie sequels, band's 2nd album, hot hand in basketball,
jinx/Madden curse, etc.)
What is the availability heuristic? Does it always lead to incorrect responding?
-using ease of recall as cue for judging frequency/ likelihood of an event
(more likely to die of diabetes vs homicide; tornado or lightning)
-usually, availability heuristic serves us well (e.g. things that happen more often should
come to mind more easily)
-but, it can lead us astray (e.g. vivid anecdotes & other accessible info can have
exaggerated influence)
, How is the availability heuristic illustrated by the study where couples were asked about
contributions to household chores?
-married couples estimated personal contributions to joint activities
-results: couples' estimates always summed to be > 100%
-our own contributions are more available to us, which leads us to over-claim
responsibility
What does Schwarz et al.'s study in which Ps were asked to recall either a small or large
# of instances of assertive behavior illustrate about the availability heuristic?
-Ps recalled 6 (easy #) vs. 12 (difficult #) instances of assertive behavior
"how assertive are you?" rated themselves.
-results:
-recall 6: 6.3
-recall 12: 5.2
-Ps rate themselves as less assertive when they are required to think of more instances
in which they were assertive
(it's harder to think of 12 than 6 instances)
What is the anchoring-and-adjustment heuristic?
during judgment, often start with initial reference point (anchor) & adjust to reach final
