Chapter 4: cognitive heuristics

more-is-better heuristic

We are more convinced about something the more arguments are provided (regardless of their quality) - Expensive-is-good heuristic: a higher price is seen as an indicator of better quality

odd pricing

pricing method using uneven amounts, which sometimes appear smaller than they really are to consumers e.g 1.99$ instead of 2$ --> anchoring effect: making it seem cheaper

Gambler's Fallacy

the belief that the odds of a chance event increase if the event hasn't occurred recently - falsely believing that independent 'runs' are dependent on each other

framing effect

the tendency for people's choices to be affected by how a choice is presented, or framed, such as whether it is worded in terms of potential losses or gains (gain and loss framing): - we are willing to take more risks when we are losing (cause we have nothing left to lose)--> loss framing (prospect theory) - Positive (gain) framing is more effective in health communication (since it is preventive in nature) --> preventive behaviours are more effectively persuaded through gain framing --> risky behaviours are more effectively influenced through loss framing (however, it can have the opposite effect) - FRAMING EFFECTS DEPEND HIGHLY ON RECEIVER CHARACTERISTICS

copycat branding

-Imitates the manufacturer brand in appearance and trade dress (packaging) with the hope of inheriting its success - based on the idea that if the brand resembles the famous one, the positive evaluations of this one will be also attributed to it (exploits familiarity) -Can confuse the consumer -Risk of violating packaging and patent laws (trademark infringement)

anchoring and adjustment heuristic

Adjustment: a natural tendency for people to be influenced by an initial anchor point (previously provided information) such that they do not sufficiently move away from that point as new information is provided Anchoring effect: we use numerical information as an anchor value to make and interpret numerical estimates. - this heuristic is more effective when people are uncertain about how the new information/estimate should look like - odd pricing

representativeness heuristic

a mental shortcut whereby people classify something according to how similar it is to a typical case (to a stereotype or pre-existing idea of how the typical case looks like) - the degree to which A is related to b (a cause, a consequence or a part of b) is dependent on how much A resembles B (correlation) - we ignore the actual likelihood of A belonging to B, we just use the heuristic - copycat branding & brand extension

affect heuristic

a rule of thumb in which we choose between alternatives based on emotional or "gut" reactions to stimuli - what we find as pleasant/like, we will attribute more positive consequences/attributes to --> associative process

Heuristic

a simple thinking "rule of thumb" that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently -usually speedier but also they can be misleading due to their automatic nature - highly adaptive (they are a product of evolution) 1. The short-cut has been generally useful and accurate in the past 2. The signal stimuli (content characteristics) determines which heuristic is needed to solve the dimensional challenge 3. They simplify the original question

availability heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common - it explains why cultivation and agenda-setting can define how we see the world (the more something is covered in the media, the more likely we believe it to be)

brand extension

extending an existing brand name to new product categories - exploits familiarity -> thus, the brand exploits its own success (e.g apple)

prospect theory

people choose to take on risk when evaluating potential losses and avoid risks when evaluating potential gains

cognitive heuristics

rules of thumb or short-cuts that individuals use to save time when making complex decisions out of complex information - e.g evaluating probabilities of consequences and arguments