Solving Problems and Making Decisions

A way of thinking that we use for quick, automatic processes such as recognizing faces and routine actions, and for questions we think are easy

Proceeds unconsciously, or at least without much effort

A way of thinking that we use for mathematical calculations, evaluating evidence, and anything else that requires attention.

We rely on system 1 more because it requires less time and energy

A system 2 explicit procedure for calculating an answer or testing every hypothesis

A strategy for simplifying a problem and generating a satisfactory guess

• Ex: If you want to guess which child is the oldest, choose the tallest
• Ex: People assume that if directions are hard to read, the task will be hard

Heuristics use system 1

Thoroughly considering as many choices as possible to find the best one

Ex: If you have a choice with much at stake (building a safe bridge over a river)

Searching only until you find something satisfactory

Ex: Most of our daily decisions

The assumption that an item that resembles members of a category is probably also in the category

Ex: duck

To decide if something belongs to one category or the other, you should consider the base-rate information-- that is, how common the two categories are

The tendency to assume that if we easily think of examples of a category, then that category must be common

Ex: During the months after the September 11th attacks, many people drove instead of taking planes

This is because memories of your most extreme experiences are easily available

The careful evaluation of evidence for and against any conclusion

Accepting a hypothesis and then looking for evidence to support it instead of considering other possibilities

Ex: Religion

Accuse opponents of being biased for some reason

A special case of confirmation bias. The tendency to adhere to a single approach or the single way of testing an item

The tendency to answer a question differently when it is framed differently is called the framing effect

(5 today and 0 a month from now, or 0 today and 6.20 a month from now)

The willingness to do something because of money or effort already spent

Ex: Suffering through a cold football game because you already bought the ticket

Requires about 10 years of intense practice (from chess to sports to violin playing)

Experts can look for a pattern and recognize its features and importance quickly

Benefit to a new skill based on practice of a similar skill

Easy to demonstrate

(transferring from problems about the velocity of trains to the velocity of cars in physics)

Benefit from practicing something less similar from your expertise

Example: Rapidly switching tasks to improve your ability to control attention and perform acts of "central executive function"