Heuristic Mini Response
Q1. What is an example of a heuristic you use? What biases might arise?
A common heuristic that I use in almost daily life in measuring distance is by reference to a man’s height. An average man is about 6 feet tall. For short distances, I try to do a mental calculation of how many men would fit the said space. For longer distances, I use minutes taken to estimate a distance. I usually assume that 1 mile takes 1 minute while driving. This way, I am able to tell the distance from one place to the next. This heuristic is especially helpful when I want to find the distance between places that I am unfamiliar with or when I want to find the height where I have no access to tools that measure such. The conditions for when this heuristics is helpful include short heights such as the height of a door or a bed, and for distances, the main condition is that a car is travelling in no traffic. The biases that may arise from using this heuristic include wrong guestimates arising from errors in judgement. The time taken to drive from one place to the other may also be affected by the speed of the vehicle, causing errors in the overall estimate.
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Q2. We’re all guilty of confirmation bias, but what’s a recent example that you really chased confirmation more than you should have?
I believe that women are more careful drivers keen, and courteous than men drivers. Recently, I looked up my local areas statistics on the number of cases involving women drivers versus men and found the same to be true. Although the evidence only suggested that men are involved in more accidents, I associated the same with carelessness, rowdy behavior, and arrogance. I ignored any disconfirming evidence on the issue. To help other people avoid such confirmation biases, I believe it would help to actually look for evidence in a manner that is objective, with the intention of gaining knowledge on a subject as opposed to trying to confirm one’s preexisting bias.
