Your brain's shortcuts can lead to errors
Heuristics are mental shortcuts our brains use for quick decisions, but these efficient processes can predictably lead to systematic errors and biases in judgment.
Our brains use mental shortcuts, called heuristics, to make quick decisions without overthinking. While efficient, these shortcuts, identified by psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman in the 1970s, often introduce systematic thinking errors. For instance, the availability heuristic makes us overestimate risks that easily come to mind, like fearing plane crashes more than car accidents after seeing news reports.
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