How do heuristics affect decision-making?

Heuristics are cognitive shortcuts that simplify decision-making by allowing individuals to solve problems and make judgments quickly and efficiently. While they can be beneficial in facilitating faster decisions, they also carry the risk of introducing biases and errors in judgment. This is because heuristics often rely on mental shortcuts that do not take into account all relevant information, leading to potential oversights or misjudgments.

For instance, when using the availability heuristic, a person might overestimate the likelihood of events based on how easily examples come to mind rather than on actual statistical probabilities. This can lead to skewed perceptions of risk or frequency. Consequently, while heuristics expedite the decision-making process, the biases they introduce can compromise the quality of those decisions, making this the correct interpretation of their impact on our thinking and problem-solving behaviors.