PSYC 11762 Lecture Notes - Lecture 30: Functional Fixedness, Availability Heuristic, Divergent Thinking
26 Apr 2019
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Document Summary
A tendency to approach a problem in a particular way especially a way that has been successful in the past. Each day we make hundreds of judgments and decisions based on our intuition seldom using systematic reasoning. Two kinds of heuristics have been identified by cognitive psychologists. Judging the likelihood of things or objects in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match a particular prototype. Whatever increases the ease of retrieving information increases its perceived availability. It is a tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one"s beliefs and judgments. Opposed to overconfidence is our tendency for exaggerated fear about how things may happen. 9/11 crashes led to decline in air travel due to fear. How an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and judgments. The tendency for one"s preexisting beliefs to distort logical reasoning sometimes by making invalid conclusions. Our tendency to cling to our beliefs in the face of contrary evidence.
