E.12. explain what a judgemental heuristic is and describe each of the following types of heuristics providing specific research of each.

the halo heuristic

a demension of attitude heuristic. a general bias in which a favorable or unfavorable general impression of a person effects our inferences and future expectation about that person. research: Richard Stein and Carol Nemeroff

representative heuristic

we focus on the similarity of one object to another to infer that the first object acts like the second one. it is often used to form impressions about other ppl based on the first information we pick up on about a person, mostly their appearance. gender, race, physical attractiveness... so on. kind of the basis of gender and ethnic stereotypes. we think that wines that are more expensive are better, but we shouldn't look at the price, look at what is in them. Research: 1981 Consumer reports: Physical attractiveness.

attitude heuristic

a mental shortcut way of making decisions and solving problems by assigning objects to either a favorable or an unfavorable category i.e. if you liked Obama then you would blame the problems on his predecessor and the situation he is in. if you dont then you would blame the problems on him, his policy and leadership style. Research: Anthony Pratkanis

Lee Ross and Colleagues

asked college students if they were willing to wear a sign around campus that said eat at joes . those who agreed to wear the sign thought most others would too, and visa versa, if they didnt want to wear the sign they thought most others would make the same choice.

Richard Stein and Carol Nemeroff

college students have a halo effect (positive and negative) about women based on the food that they eat. all other things being equal if they found out the women ate healthy they found her more attractive, feminine, and likable than women who ate junkfood.

Anthony Pratkanis

did a study asking college students if sentence A or B was true. sentence A said that Reagan maintained a A average in college and sentence B said that he never achieved above a C. they found that students who liked Reagan said sentence A was right and students who didn't like him said sentence B was correct. also the more they liked or disliked him effected how confident they were.

1981 consumer reports: cereal

fed rats water and cereal, ended up finding out that lucky charms helped them grow and be healthy over Quaker oats. but using the representative heuristic you would think that the oats are better for you based on the box.

the availability heuristics

judgments based on how easy it is for us to bring specific examples to mind. problem is that sometimes the things that are readily available are not typical of the overall picture, and lead us to faulty conclusions. Research: asked ppl some questions about which is a more likely way to die in the U.S, shark attacks, or pieces of airplane falling, and fires or drowning, most ppl said shark attacks and fires. but these are both wrong. they are just easier to bring to mind because they are more vivid manner on the news when they do happen.

Judgemental Heuristics

mental shortcuts people use to make judgements quickly and efficiently. simple approximate rule or strategy for solving a problem. example: if something is in a healthfood store it must be good for you. require very little thought, just select the rule (which can be the wrong rule to use for that situation)

Physical attractiveness

research has shown that people who are more physically attractive are thought to be more successful, sensitive, warmer and of better character, than those who are less physically attractive.

false consensus effect

tendency for people to overestimate the number of people who agree with them on any issue. assume that if you believe something most other ppl will feel the same way research:Lee Ross and colleagues