heuristics problem solving strategies

Heuristic Problem Solving: A comprehensive guide with 5 Examples

What are heuristics, advantages of using heuristic problem solving, disadvantages of using heuristic problem solving, heuristic problem solving examples, frequently asked questions.

• Speed: Heuristics are designed to find solutions quickly, saving time in problem solving tasks. Rather than spending a lot of time analyzing every possible solution, heuristics help to narrow down the options and focus on the most promising ones.
• Flexibility: Heuristics are not rigid, step-by-step procedures. They allow for flexibility and creativity in problem solving, leading to innovative solutions. They encourage thinking outside the box and can generate unexpected and valuable ideas.
• Simplicity: Heuristics are often easy to understand and apply, making them accessible to anyone regardless of their expertise or background. They don’t require specialized knowledge or training, which means they can be used in various contexts and by different people.
• Cost-effective: Because heuristics are simple and efficient, they can save time, money, and effort in finding solutions. They also don’t require expensive software or equipment, making them a cost-effective approach to problem solving.
• Real-world applicability: Heuristics are often based on practical experience and knowledge, making them relevant to real-world situations. They can help solve complex, messy, or ill-defined problems where other problem solving methods may not be practical.
• Potential for errors: Heuristic problem solving relies on generalizations and assumptions, which may lead to errors or incorrect conclusions. This is especially true if the heuristic is not based on a solid understanding of the problem or the underlying principles.
• Limited scope: Heuristic problem solving may only consider a limited number of potential solutions and may not identify the most optimal or effective solution.
• Lack of creativity: Heuristic problem solving may rely on pre-existing solutions or approaches, limiting creativity and innovation in problem-solving.
• Over-reliance: Heuristic problem solving may lead to over-reliance on a specific approach or heuristic, which can be problematic if the heuristic is flawed or ineffective.
• Lack of transparency: Heuristic problem solving may not be transparent or explainable, as the decision-making process may not be explicitly articulated or understood.
• Trial and error: This heuristic involves trying different solutions to a problem and learning from mistakes until a successful solution is found. A software developer encountering a bug in their code may try other solutions and test each one until they find the one that solves the issue.
• Working backward: This heuristic involves starting at the goal and then figuring out what steps are needed to reach that goal. For example, a project manager may begin by setting a project deadline and then work backward to determine the necessary steps and deadlines for each team member to ensure the project is completed on time.
• Breaking a problem into smaller parts: This heuristic involves breaking down a complex problem into smaller, more manageable pieces that can be tackled individually. For example, an HR manager tasked with implementing a new employee benefits program may break the project into smaller parts, such as researching options, getting quotes from vendors, and communicating the unique benefits to employees.
• Using analogies: This heuristic involves finding similarities between a current problem and a similar problem that has been solved before and using the solution to the previous issue to help solve the current one. For example, a salesperson struggling to close a deal may use an analogy to a successful sales pitch they made to help guide their approach to the current pitch.
• Simplifying the problem: This heuristic involves simplifying a complex problem by ignoring details that are not necessary for solving it. This allows the problem solver to focus on the most critical aspects of the problem. For example, a customer service representative dealing with a complex issue may simplify it by breaking it down into smaller components and addressing them individually rather than simultaneously trying to solve the entire problem.

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Home Blog Business Using Heuristic Problem-Solving Methods for Effective Decision-Making

Using Heuristic Problem-Solving Methods for Effective Decision-Making

Problem-solving capability and effective decision making are two of the most prized capabilities of any leader. However, one cannot expect these traits to be simply present by default in an individual, as both require extensive analysis of the root cause of issues and to know what to look for when anticipating a gain. In a previous article, we brought you  5 Problem-Solving Strategies to Become a Better Problem Solver . This time we have something that can help you dig deep to resolve problems, i.e. using heuristic problem-solving methods for effective decision-making.

What are Heuristics?

Heuristics are essentially problem-solving tools that can be used for solving non-routine and challenging problems. A heuristic method is a practical approach for a short-term goal, such as solving a problem. The approach might not be perfect but can help find a quick solution to help move towards a reasonable way to resolve a problem.

Example: A computer that is to be used for an event to allow presenters to play PowerPoint presentations via a projector malfunctions due to an operating system problem. In such a case a system administrator might quickly refresh the system using a backup to make it functional for the event. Once the event concludes the system administrator can run detailed diagnostic tests to see if there are any further underlying problems that need to be resolved.

In this example, restoring the system using a backup was a short-term solution to solve the immediate problem, i.e. to make the system functional for the event that was to start in a few hours. There are a number of heuristic methods that can lead to such a decision to resolve a problem. These are explained in more detail in the sections below.

Examples of Heuristic Methods Used for Challenging and Non-Routine Problems

Heuristic methods can help ease the cognitive load by making it easy to process decisions. These include various basic methods that aren’t rooted in any theory per se but rather rely on past experiences and common sense. Using heuristics one can, therefore, resolve challenging and non-routine problems. Let’s take a look at some examples.

A Rule of Thumb

This includes using a method based on practical experience. A rule of thumb can be applied to find a short-term solution to a problem to quickly resolve an issue during a situation where one might be pressed for time.

Example: In the case of the operating system failure mentioned earlier, we assume that the PC on which PowerPoint presentations are to be run by presenters during an event is getting stuck on the start screen. Considering that the event is about to start in 2 hours, it is not practical for the system administrator to reinstall the operating system and all associated applications, hotfixes and updates, as it might take several hours. Using a rule of thumb, he might try to use various tried and tested methods, such as trying to use a system restore point to restore the PC without deleting essential files or to use a backup to restore the PC to an earlier environment.

An Educated Guess

An educated guess or guess and check can help resolve a problem by using knowledge and experience. Based on your knowledge of a subject, you can make an educated guess to resolve a problem.

Example: In the example of the malfunctioning PC, the system administrator will have to make an educated guess regarding the best possible way to resolve the problem. The educated guess, in this case, can be to restore the system to a backup instead of using system restore, both of which might take a similar amount of time; however, the former is likely to work better as a quick fix based on past experience and knowledge of the system administrator.

Trial and Error

This is another heuristic method to problem-solving where one might try various things that are expected to work until a solution is achieved.

Example: The system administrator might try various techniques to fix the PC using trial and error. He might start with checking if the system is accessible in safe mode. And if so, does removing a newly installed software or update solve the problem? If he can’t access the system at all, he might proceed with restoring it from a backup. If that too fails, he might need to quickly opt for a wipe and load installation and only install PowerPoint to ensure that at least presenters can run presentations on the PC. In this case he can perform other required software installations after the event.

An Intuitive Judgment

Intuitive judgment does not result from a rational analysis of a situation or based on reasoning. It is more of a feeling one has which may or may not lead to the desired outcome. Sometimes, intuitive judgement can help resolve problems. Perhaps the most rational way to describe an intuition is that it is some type of calculation at the subconscious level, where you can’t put your finger on the reason why you think something might be the way it is.

Example: The system administrator might have a feeling that the PC is not working because the hard drive has failed. This might be an intuitive judgment without hard evidence. He might quickly replace the hard drive to resolve the problem. Later, after he runs diagnostics on the old hard drive, he might realize that it was indeed that hard drive that was faulty and trying to fix it would have been a waste of time. In this case, he might be able to solve a problem using intuitive judgment.

Stereotyping

A stereotype is an opinion which is judgmental rather than rational. Certain types of possessions for example create a stereotype of social status. A person who wears an expensive watch might be deemed rich, although he might simply have received it as a gift from someone, instead of being rich himself.

Example: A certain company might have developed a bad reputation of developing faulty hard drives. If the systems administrator sees the name of that company on the hard drive when opening the faulty PC, he might think that the hard drive is faulty based on stereotyping and decide to replace it.

Profiling is used to systematically analyze data to understand its dynamics. Profiling as a heuristic method for problem-solving might entail analyzing data to understand and resolve a problem or to look for patterns, just like a root cause analysis .

Example: To solve the issue of the faulty PC, a system administrator might look for similar patterns which might have led to the problem. He might search online for solutions via online forums to understand what might have caused the issue. He might also look at the information associated with recently installed software and updates to see if something conflicted with the operating system. During the profiling process, he might realize that software he installed yesterday before shutting down the PC is the cause of the problem, since similar issues have been reported by other users. He might try to remove the software using Safe Mode or by removing its files by running the computer from a bootable disc drive.

Common Sense

Common sense is the use of practical judgment to understand something. The use of common sense is also a heuristic method used for problem-solving.

Example: When dealing with a faulty PC the system administrator sees smoke coming out of the PC. In this case, it is common sense that a hardware component is faulty. He shuts down the PC, removes the power cord and investigates the issue further based on common sense. This is because keeping the system linked to a power socket amidst smoke emitting from the PC can only make things worse. It is common sense to turn off everything and take the necessary precautions to investigate the issue further.

How are Heuristic Methods Used in Decision-Making?

There are a number of formal and informal models of heuristics used for decision making. Let’s take a look at a few of the formal models of heuristics used for decision making.

Formal Models of Heuristics

Fast-and-frugal tree.

A fast-and-frugal tree is a classification or decision tree. It is a graphical form that helps make decisions. For example, a fast-and-frugal tree might help doctors determine if a patient should be sent to a regular ward or for an emergency procedure. fast-and-frugal trees are methods for making decisions based on hierarchical models, where one has to make a decision based on little information.

Fluency Heuristic

In psychology, fluency heuristic implies an object that can be easily processed and deemed to have a higher value, even if it is not logical to assume this. Understanding the application of fluency heuristic can help make better decisions in a variety of fields. Fluency heuristic is more like sunk cost fallacy .

For example, a designer might design a user interface that is easier for users to process, with fewer buttons and easily labeled options. This can help them think fast, work quicker and improve productivity. Similarly, the concept might be used in marketing to sell products using effective marketing techniques. Even if two products are identical, a consumer might pick one over the other based on fluency heuristic. The consumer might deem the product to be better for his needs, even if it is the same as the other one.

Gaze Heuristic

Assume that you aim to catch a ball. Based on your judgment you would leap to catch the ball. If you were to leave yourself to instinct, you will end up at the same spot to catch the ball at a spot you would predict it to fall. This is essentially gaze heuristic. The concept of gaze heuristic is thought to be applied for simple situations and its applications are somewhat limited.

Recognition Heuristic

If there are two objects, one recognizable and the one isn’t, the person is likely to deem the former to be of greater value. A simple example of recognition heuristic is branding. People get used to brand logos, assuming them to be of high quality. This helps brands to sell multiple products using recognition heuristic. So, if you are looking to buy an air conditioner and come across two products, A and B, where A is a brand you know and B is a new company you don’t recognize, you might opt for A. Even if B is of better quality, you might simply trust A because you have been buying electronics from the brand for many years and they have been of good quality.

Satisficing

Satisficing entails looking for alternatives until an acceptable threshold can be ensured. Satisficing in decision making implies selecting an option which meets most needs or the first option which can meet a need, even if it is not the optimal solution. For example, when choosing between early retirement or continuing service for 2 or 3 more years, one might opt for early retirement assuming that it would meet the individual’s needs.

Similarity Heuristic

Similarity heuristic is judgment based on which is deemed similar, if something reminds someone of good or bad days, something similar might be considered the same. Similarity heuristics is often used by brands to remind people of something that they might have sentimental value for.

Someone might buy a limited-edition bottle of perfume that is being sold in a packaging style that was replaced 20 years ago. Assuming that sales were great in those days, the company might sell such limited-edition perfume bottles in the hope of boosting sales. Consumers might buy them simply because they remind them of the ‘good old days’, even though the product inside might not even be of the same but rather similar to what it used to be. Many consumers claim to buy these types of products claiming that it reminds them of a fond memory, such as their youth, marriage or  first job, when they used the product back in the day.

Final Words

Heuristics play a key role in decision making and affect the way we make decisions. Understanding heuristics can not only help resolve problems but also understand biases that affect effective decision making. A business decision or one that affects one’s health, life, or well-being cannot rely merely on a hunch. Understanding heuristics and applying them effectively can therefore help make the best possible decisions. Heuristic methods are not only used in different professions and personal decision making but are also used in artificial intelligence and programming.

Modern anti-virus software for instance uses heuristic methods to dig out the most elusive malware. The same rule can be essentially applied to decision making, by effectively using heuristics to resolve problems and to make decisions based on better judgment.

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Common Sense, Decision Making, Educated Guess, Heuristics, Judgment, Problem Solving, Profiling, Rule of Thumb, Stereotyping, Trial and Error Filed under Business

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What Are Heuristics?

These mental shortcuts can help people make decisions more efficiently

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Verywell / Cindy Chung 

• History and Origins
• Heuristics vs. Algorithms
• Heuristics and Bias

How to Make Better Decisions

Heuristics are mental shortcuts that allow people to solve problems and make judgments quickly and efficiently. These rule-of-thumb strategies shorten decision-making time and allow people to function without constantly stopping to think about their next course of action.

However, there are both benefits and drawbacks of heuristics. While heuristics are helpful in many situations, they can also lead to  cognitive biases . Becoming aware of this might help you make better and more accurate decisions.

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The History and Origins of Heuristics

Nobel-prize winning economist and cognitive psychologist Herbert Simon originally introduced the concept of heuristics in psychology in the 1950s. He suggested that while people strive to make rational choices, human judgment is subject to cognitive limitations. Purely rational decisions would involve weighing all the potential costs and possible benefits of every alternative.

But people are limited by the amount of time they have to make a choice as well as the amount of information they have at their disposal. Other factors such as overall intelligence and accuracy of perceptions also influence the decision-making process.

During the 1970s, psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman presented their research on cognitive biases. They proposed that these biases influence how people think and the judgments people make.

As a result of these limitations, we are forced to rely on mental shortcuts to help us make sense of the world. Simon's research demonstrated that humans were limited in their ability to make rational decisions, but it was Tversky and Kahneman's work that introduced the study of heuristics and the specific ways of thinking that people rely on to simplify the decision-making process.

How Heuristics Are Used

Heuristics play important roles in both  problem-solving  and  decision-making , as we often turn to these mental shortcuts when we need a quick solution.

Here are a few different theories from psychologists about why we rely on heuristics.

• Attribute substitution : People substitute simpler but related questions in place of more complex and difficult questions.
• Effort reduction : People use heuristics as a type of cognitive laziness to reduce the mental effort required to make choices and decisions.
• Fast and frugal : People use heuristics because they can be fast and correct in certain contexts. Some theories argue that heuristics are actually more accurate than they are biased.

In order to cope with the tremendous amount of information we encounter and to speed up the decision-making process, our brains rely on these mental strategies to simplify things so we don't have to spend endless amounts of time analyzing every detail.

You probably make hundreds or even thousands of decisions every day. What should you have for breakfast? What should you wear today? Should you drive or take the bus? Fortunately, heuristics allow you to make such decisions with relative ease and without a great deal of agonizing.

There are many heuristics examples in everyday life. When trying to decide if you should drive or ride the bus to work, for instance, you might remember that there is road construction along the bus route. You realize that this might slow the bus and cause you to be late for work. So you leave earlier and drive to work on an alternate route.

Heuristics allow you to think through the possible outcomes quickly and arrive at a solution.

Are Heuristics Good or Bad?

Heuristics aren't inherently good or bad, but there are pros and cons to using them to make decisions. While they can help us figure out a solution to a problem faster, they can also lead to inaccurate judgments about other people or situations.

Types of Heuristics

There are many different kinds of heuristics. While each type plays a role in decision-making, they occur during different contexts. Understanding the types can help you better understand which one you are using and when.

Availability

The availability heuristic  involves making decisions based upon how easy it is to bring something to mind. When you are trying to make a decision, you might quickly remember a number of relevant examples. Since these are more readily available in your memory, you will likely judge these outcomes as being more common or frequently occurring.

For example, if you are thinking of flying and suddenly think of a number of recent airline accidents, you might feel like air travel is too dangerous and decide to travel by car instead. Because those examples of air disasters came to mind so easily, the availability heuristic leads you to think that plane crashes are more common than they really are.

Familiarity

The familiarity heuristic refers to how people tend to have more favorable opinions of things, people, or places they've experienced before as opposed to new ones. In fact, given two options, people may choose something they're more familiar with even if the new option provides more benefits.

Representativeness

The representativeness heuristic  involves making a decision by comparing the present situation to the most representative mental prototype. When you are trying to decide if someone is trustworthy, you might compare aspects of the individual to other mental examples you hold.

A soft-spoken older woman might remind you of your grandmother, so you might immediately assume that she is kind, gentle, and trustworthy. However, this is an example of a heuristic bias, as you can't know someone trustworthy based on their age alone.

The affect heuristic involves making choices that are influenced by the emotions that an individual is experiencing at that moment. For example, research has shown that people are more likely to see decisions as having benefits and lower risks when they are in a positive mood. Negative emotions, on the other hand, lead people to focus on the potential downsides of a decision rather than the possible benefits.

The anchoring bias involves the tendency to be overly influenced by the first bit of information we hear or learn. This can make it more difficult to consider other factors and lead to poor choices. For example, anchoring bias can influence how much you are willing to pay for something, causing you to jump at the first offer without shopping around for a better deal.

Scarcity is a principle in heuristics in which we view things that are scarce or less available to us as inherently more valuable. The scarcity heuristic is one often used by marketers to influence people to buy certain products. This is why you'll often see signs that advertise "limited time only" or that tell you to "get yours while supplies last."

Trial and Error

Trial and error is another type of heuristic in which people use a number of different strategies to solve something until they find what works. Examples of this type of heuristic are evident in everyday life. People use trial and error when they're playing video games, finding the fastest driving route to work, and learning to ride a bike (or learning any new skill).

Difference Between Heuristics and Algorithms

Though the terms are often confused, heuristics and algorithms are two distinct terms in psychology.

Algorithms are step-by-step instructions that lead to predictable, reliable outcomes; whereas heuristics are mental shortcuts that are basically best guesses. Algorithms always lead to accurate outcomes, whereas, heuristics do not.

Examples of algorithms include instructions for how to put together a piece of furniture or a recipe for cooking a certain dish. Health professionals also create algorithms or processes to follow in order to determine what type of treatment to use on a patient.

How Heuristics Can Lead to Bias

While heuristics can help us solve problems and speed up our decision-making process, they can introduce errors. As in the examples above, heuristics can lead to inaccurate judgments about how commonly things occur and about how representative certain things may be.

Just because something has worked in the past does not mean that it will work again, and relying on a heuristic can make it difficult to see alternative solutions or come up with new ideas.

Heuristics can also contribute to stereotypes and  prejudice . Because people use mental shortcuts to classify and categorize people, they often overlook more relevant information and create stereotyped categorizations that are not in tune with reality.

While heuristics can be a useful tool, there are ways you can improve your decision-making and avoid cognitive bias at the same time.

We are more likely to make an error in judgment if we are trying to make a decision quickly or are under pressure to do so. Whenever possible, take a few deep breaths . Do something to distract yourself from the decision at hand. When you return to it, you may find you have a fresh perspective, or notice something you didn't before.

Identify the Goal

We tend to focus automatically on what works for us and make decisions that serve our best interest. But take a moment to know what you're trying to achieve. Are there other people who will be affected by this decision? What's best for them? Is there a common goal that can be achieved that will serve all parties?

Process Your Emotions

Fast decision-making is often influenced by emotions from past experiences that bubble to the surface. Is your decision based on facts or emotions? While emotions can be helpful, they may affect decisions in a negative way if they prevent us from seeing the full picture.

Recognize All-or-Nothing Thinking

When making a decision, it's a common tendency to believe you have to pick a single, well-defined path, and there's no going back. In reality, this often isn't the case.

Sometimes there are compromises involving two choices, or a third or fourth option that we didn't even think of at first. Try to recognize the nuances and possibilities of all choices involved, instead of using all-or-nothing thinking .

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Cheung TT, Kroese FM, Fennis BM, De Ridder DT. Put a limit on it: The protective effects of scarcity heuristics when self-control is low . Health Psychol Open . 2015;2(2):2055102915615046. doi:10.1177/2055102915615046

Mohr H, Zwosta K, Markovic D, Bitzer S, Wolfensteller U, Ruge H. Deterministic response strategies in a trial-and-error learning task . Inman C, ed. PLoS Comput Biol. 2018;14(11):e1006621. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006621

Lang JM, Ford JD, Fitzgerald MM.  An algorithm for determining use of trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy .  Psychotherapy   (Chic) . 2010;47(4):554-69. doi:10.1037/a0021184

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Marewski JN, Gigerenzer G. Heuristic decision making in medicine .  Dialogues Clin Neurosci . 2012;14(1):77-89. doi:10.31887/DCNS.2012.14.1/jmarewski

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By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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8.2 Problem-Solving: Heuristics and Algorithms

Learning objectives.

• Describe the differences between heuristics and algorithms in information processing.

When faced with a problem to solve, should you go with intuition or with more measured, logical reasoning? Obviously, we use both of these approaches. Some of the decisions we make are rapid, emotional, and automatic. Daniel Kahneman (2011) calls this “fast” thinking. By definition, fast thinking saves time. For example, you may quickly decide to buy something because it is on sale; your fast brain has perceived a bargain, and you go for it quickly. On the other hand, “slow” thinking requires more effort; applying this in the same scenario might cause us not to buy the item because we have reasoned that we don’t really need it, that it is still too expensive, and so on. Using slow and fast thinking does not guarantee good decision-making if they are employed at the wrong time. Sometimes it is not clear which is called for, because many decisions have a level of uncertainty built into them. In this section, we will explore some of the applications of these tendencies to think fast or slow.

We will look further into our thought processes, more specifically, into some of the problem-solving strategies that we use. Heuristics are information-processing strategies that are useful in many cases but may lead to errors when misapplied. A heuristic is a principle with broad application, essentially an educated guess about something. We use heuristics all the time, for example, when deciding what groceries to buy from the supermarket, when looking for a library book, when choosing the best route to drive through town to avoid traffic congestion, and so on. Heuristics can be thought of as aids to decision making; they allow us to reach a solution without a lot of cognitive effort or time.

The benefit of heuristics in helping us reach decisions fairly easily is also the potential downfall: the solution provided by the use of heuristics is not necessarily the best one. Let’s consider some of the most frequently applied, and misapplied, heuristics in the table below.

In many cases, we base our judgments on information that seems to represent, or match, what we expect will happen, while ignoring other potentially more relevant statistical information. When we do so, we are using the representativeness heuristic . Consider, for instance, the data presented in the table below. Let’s say that you went to a hospital, and you checked the records of the babies that were born on that given day. Which pattern of births do you think you are most likely to find?

Most people think that list B is more likely, probably because list B looks more random, and matches — or is “representative of” — our ideas about randomness, but statisticians know that any pattern of four girls and four boys is mathematically equally likely. Whether a boy or girl is born first has no bearing on what sex will be born second; these are independent events, each with a 50:50 chance of being a boy or a girl. The problem is that we have a schema of what randomness should be like, which does not always match what is mathematically the case. Similarly, people who see a flipped coin come up “heads” five times in a row will frequently predict, and perhaps even wager money, that “tails” will be next. This behaviour is known as the gambler’s fallacy . Mathematically, the gambler’s fallacy is an error: the likelihood of any single coin flip being “tails” is always 50%, regardless of how many times it has come up “heads” in the past.

The representativeness heuristic may explain why we judge people on the basis of appearance. Suppose you meet your new next-door neighbour, who drives a loud motorcycle, has many tattoos, wears leather, and has long hair. Later, you try to guess their occupation. What comes to mind most readily? Are they a teacher? Insurance salesman? IT specialist? Librarian? Drug dealer? The representativeness heuristic will lead you to compare your neighbour to the prototypes you have for these occupations and choose the one that they seem to represent the best. Thus, your judgment is affected by how much your neibour seems to resemble each of these groups. Sometimes these judgments are accurate, but they often fail because they do not account for base rates , which is the actual frequency with which these groups exist. In this case, the group with the lowest base rate is probably drug dealer.

Our judgments can also be influenced by how easy it is to retrieve a memory. The tendency to make judgments of the frequency or likelihood that an event occurs on the basis of the ease with which it can be retrieved from memory is known as the availability heuristic (MacLeod & Campbell, 1992; Tversky & Kahneman, 1973). Imagine, for instance, that I asked you to indicate whether there are more words in the English language that begin with the letter “R” or that have the letter “R” as the third letter. You would probably answer this question by trying to think of words that have each of the characteristics, thinking of all the words you know that begin with “R” and all that have “R” in the third position. Because it is much easier to retrieve words by their first letter than by their third, we may incorrectly guess that there are more words that begin with “R,” even though there are in fact more words that have “R” as the third letter.

The availability heuristic may explain why we tend to overestimate the likelihood of crimes or disasters; those that are reported widely in the news are more readily imaginable, and therefore, we tend to overestimate how often they occur. Things that we find easy to imagine, or to remember from watching the news, are estimated to occur frequently. Anything that gets a lot of news coverage is easy to imagine. Availability bias does not just affect our thinking. It can change behaviour. For example, homicides are usually widely reported in the news, leading people to make inaccurate assumptions about the frequency of murder. In Canada, the murder rate has dropped steadily since the 1970s (Statistics Canada, 2018), but this information tends not to be reported, leading people to overestimate the probability of being affected by violent crime. In another example, doctors who recently treated patients suffering from a particular condition were more likely to diagnose the condition in subsequent patients because they overestimated the prevalence of the condition (Poses & Anthony, 1991).

The anchoring and adjustment heuristic is another example of how fast thinking can lead to a decision that might not be optimal. Anchoring and adjustment is easily seen when we are faced with buying something that does not have a fixed price. For example, if you are interested in a used car, and the asking price is $10,000, what price do you think you might offer? Using $10,000 as an anchor, you are likely to adjust your offer from there, and perhaps offer $9000 or $9500. Never mind that $10,000 may not be a reasonable anchoring price. Anchoring and adjustment does not just happen when we’re buying something. It can also be used in any situation that calls for judgment under uncertainty, such as sentencing decisions in criminal cases (Bennett, 2014), and it applies to groups as well as individuals (Rutledge, 1993).

In contrast to heuristics, which can be thought of as problem-solving strategies based on educated guesses, algorithms are problem-solving strategies that use rules. Algorithms are generally a logical set of steps that, if applied correctly, should be accurate. For example, you could make a cake using heuristics — relying on your previous baking experience and guessing at the number and amount of ingredients, baking time, and so on — or using an algorithm. The latter would require a recipe which would provide step-by-step instructions; the recipe is the algorithm. Unless you are an extremely accomplished baker, the algorithm should provide you with a better cake than using heuristics would. While heuristics offer a solution that might be correct, a correctly applied algorithm is guaranteed to provide a correct solution. Of course, not all problems can be solved by algorithms.

As with heuristics, the use of algorithmic processing interacts with behaviour and emotion. Understanding what strategy might provide the best solution requires knowledge and experience. As we will see in the next section, we are prone to a number of cognitive biases that persist despite knowledge and experience.

Key Takeaways

• We use a variety of shortcuts in our information processing, such as the representativeness, availability, and anchoring and adjustment heuristics. These help us to make fast judgments but may lead to errors.
• Algorithms are problem-solving strategies that are based on rules rather than guesses. Algorithms, if applied correctly, are far less likely to result in errors or incorrect solutions than heuristics. Algorithms are based on logic.

Bennett, M. W. (2014). Confronting cognitive ‘anchoring effect’ and ‘blind spot’ biases in federal sentencing: A modest solution for reforming and fundamental flaw. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology , 104 (3), 489-534.

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

MacLeod, C., & Campbell, L. (1992). Memory accessibility and probability judgments: An experimental evaluation of the availability heuristic.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63 (6), 890–902.

Poses, R. M., & Anthony, M. (1991). Availability, wishful thinking, and physicians’ diagnostic judgments for patients with suspected bacteremia.  Medical Decision Making,  11 , 159-68.

Rutledge, R. W. (1993). The effects of group decisions and group-shifts on use of the anchoring and adjustment heuristic. Social Behavior and Personality, 21 (3), 215-226.

Statistics Canada. (2018). Ho micide in Canada, 2017 . Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/daily-quotidien/181121/dq181121a-eng.pdf

Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1973). Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability.  Cognitive Psychology, 5 , 207–232.

Psychology - 1st Canadian Edition by Sally Walters is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Heuristics and Problem Solving

• Erik De Corte 2 ,
• Lieven Verschaffel 2 &
• Wim Van Dooren 2  
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Definitions

In a general sense heuristics are guidelines or methods for problem solving. Therefore, we will first define problem solving before presenting a specific definition of heuristics.

Problem Solving

In contrast to a routine task, a problem is a situation in which a person is trying to attain a goal but does not dispose of a ready-made solution or solution method. Problem solving involves then “cognitive processing directed at transforming the given situation into a goal situation when no obvious method of solution is available” (Mayer and Wittrock 2006 , p. 287). An implication is that a task can be a problem for one person, but not for someone else. For instance, the task “divide 120 marbles equally among 8 children” may be a problem for beginning elementary school children, but not for people who master the algorithm for long division, or know how to use a calculator.

The term “heuristic” originates from the Greek word heuriskein which means “to find.” Heuristics ...

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De Corte, E., Verschaffel, L., & Op’t Eynde, P. (2000). Self-regulation: a characteristic and a goal of mathematics education. In M. Boekaerts, P. R. Pintrich, & M. Zeidner (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation (pp. 687–726). San Diego, CA: Academic.

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De Corte, E., Verschaffel, L., & Masui, C. (2004). The CLIA-model: a framework for designing powerful learning environments for thinking and problem solving. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 19 , 365–384.

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Some Helpful Problem-Solving Heuristics

A  heuristic  is a thinking strategy, something that can be used to tease out further information about a problem and thus help you figure out what to do when you don’t know what to do. Here are 25 heuristics that can be useful in solving problems. They help you monitor your thought processes, to step back and watch yourself at work, and thus keep your cool in a challenging situation.

• Ask somebody else  how to do the problem. This strategy is probably the most used world-wide, though it is not one we encourage our students to use, at least not initially.
• Guess and try  (guess, check, and revise). Your first guess might be right! But incorrect guesses can often suggest a direction toward a solution. (N.B. A spreadsheet is a powerful aid in guessing and trying. Set up the relationships and plug in a number to see if you get what you want. If you don’t, it is easy to try another number. And another.)
• Restate the problem  using words that make sense to you. One way to do this is to explain the problem to someone else. Often this is all it takes for the light to dawn.
• Organize information  into a table or chart. Having it laid out clearly in front of you frees up your mind for thinking. And perhaps you can use the organized data to generate more information.
• Draw a picture  of the problem. Translate problem information into pictures, diagrams, sketches, glyphs, arrows, or some other kind of representation.
• Make a model  of the problem. The model might be a physical or mental model, perhaps using a computer. You might vary the problem information to see whether and how the model may be affected.
• Look for patterns , any kind of patterns: number patterns, verbal patterns, spatial/visual patterns, patterns in time, patterns in sound. (Some people define mathematics as the science of patterns.)
• Act out the problem , if it is stated in a narrative form. Acting it out can have the same effect as drawing a picture. What’s more, acting out the problem might disclose incorrect assumptions you are making.
• Invent notation . Name things in the problem (known or unknown) using words or symbols, including relationships between problem components.
• Write equations . An equation is simply the same thing named two different ways.
• Check all possibilities  in a systematic way. A table or chart may help you to be systematic.
• Work backwards  from the end condition to the beginning condition. Working backwards is particularly helpful when letting a variable (letter) represent an unknown.
• Identify subgoals  in the problem. Break up the problem into a sequence of smaller problems (“If I knew this, then I could get that”).
• Simplify the problem . Use easier or smaller numbers, or look at extreme cases (e.g., use the minimum or maximum value of one of the varying quantities).
• Restate the problem again . After working on the problem for a time, back off a bit and put it into your own words in still a different way, since now you know more about it.
• Change your point of view . Use your imagination to change the way you are looking at the problem. Turn it upside down, or pull it inside out.
• Check for hidden assumptions  you may be making (you might be making the problem harder than it really is). These assumptions are often found by changing the given numbers or conditions and looking to see what happens.
• Identify needed and given information clearly . You may not need to find everything you think you need to find, for instance.
• Make up your own technique . It is your mind, after all; use mental actions that make sense to you. The key is to do something that engages you with the problem.
• Try combinations of the above heuristics .

These heuristics can be readily pointed out to students as they engage problems in the classroom. However, real-world problems are often confronted many times over or on increasingly complex levels. For those kinds of problems, George Polya, the father of modern problem-solving heuristics, identified a fifth class (E) of looking-back heuristics. We include these here for completeness, but also with the teaching caveat that solutions often improve and insights grow deeper after the initial pressure to produce a solution has been resolved. Subsequent considerations of a problem situation are invariably deeper than the first attempt.

• Check your solution . Substitute your answer or results back into the problem. Are all of the conditions satisfied?
• Find another solution . There may be more than one answer. Make sure you have them all.
• Solve the problem a different way . Your first solution will seldom be the best solution. Now that the pressure is off, you may readily find other ways to solve the problem.
• Solve a related problem . Steve Brown and Marion Walter in their book,  The Art of Problem Posing , suggest the “What if not?” technique. What if the train goes at a different speed? What if there are 8 children, instead of 9? What if . . .? Fascinating discoveries can be made in this way, leading to:
• Generalize the solution . Can you glean from your solution how it can be made to fit a whole class of related situations? Can you prove your result?