Mental Shortcuts: How We Navigate Everyday Decisions

In our daily lives, decisions can often be quite complex, whether it's selecting an outfit for the day or choosing what to have for lunch. To simplify this decision-making process, our minds employ shortcuts known as heuristics, which are based on past experiences and knowledge, enabling quicker choices.

Why do we employ mental shortcuts?

Consider the example of searching for deodorant in a departmental store: If our minds operated like algorithms, we'd meticulously check each rack, ruling out those without deodorants until we found the right one. This approach would turn a simple task into a time-consuming ordeal. Fortunately, our brains use heuristics to streamline complex decision-making by relying on patterns and general rules.

Going beyond just ‘a usability-test-tool’

These mental shortcuts are not confined to design; their influence extends into our everyday life decisions as well. They help us navigate various aspects of life, making choices more manageable and efficient. Recognizing their broader utility beyond specific professional fields is essential.

Here are some commonly employed types of heuristics and biases:

1. Availability Heuristic:?Imagine you hear about a few shark attacks on the news and decide not to go to the beach this summer because you think it's very dangerous. This is using recent news availability to make a decision.

2. Representativeness Heuristic:?If you see someone wearing a lab coat, you might assume they are a scientist, even though they could be a chef or an artist who simply likes wearing lab coats.

3. Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic:?You're at a flea market and see a beautiful antique vase with a price tag of $500. Even if you think it's too expensive, you might start bargaining from that price, assuming it's worth a lot, even if it isn't.

4. Confirmation Bias:?You favor a particular smartphone brand, and when you read reviews, you tend to focus on the positive ones and ignore the negative ones because you want to confirm your belief that it's the best.

5. Sunk Cost Fallacy:?You've already paid for a non-refundable ticket to a movie you no longer want to see, but you go anyway because you don't want to waste the money you've spent.

6. Social Proof:?You choose a restaurant with a long line outside because you assume it must be good if so many people are waiting, even though you don't know why they're waiting.

7. Framing Effect:?A juice box claims to be "90% fat-free" and is more appealing than a similar one that says "10% fat," even though they mean the same thing.

8. Loss Aversion:?You hold onto a losing stock in the hope that it will bounce back because you don't want to "lose" money by selling it, even though it might be better to cut your losses.

Understanding these heuristics can provide you with a fresh perspective on your everyday decision-making process. It's important to grasp these nuances of everyday life as they enable us to observe, analyze, and make decisions that contribute to the overall betterment of society.

Credits: Cover Image:?Leonardo.ai

References:

1. Psychology for Beginners: Usborne
2. https://medium.com/mind-cafe/5-useful-heuristics-to-help-you-navigate-daily-life-19c19e06ee33
3. https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/heuristics.htm
4. https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/examples-heuristics-everyday