Heuristics Discussion

What are your thoughts on the content of this discussion below as it relates to heuristics. Do you agree or disagree? Why

This person has chosen two of the most commonly used heuristics that are used to solve problems and provide an example to illustrate each from personal experiences.

This is their discussion:

One form of heuristics is availability. Which is when the more easily something comes to mind the more available it is. There is scholarly information that uses examples such as do people think dying in an automobile or plane is more common and many chose plane because of availability bias. Even though automobiles are more common, but because plane crashes are more dramatic and tragic they appear to be more common. An example I can think of is I have a skin condition which kills my pigment and so I am covered in white spots. I am always checking my children's skin to ensure they have not caught it from me. It is not contagious or genetic but I still fear that they will get it as well. In reality them catching it not likely at all.

Another form of heuristics is anchoring which is when people "estimate by starting from an initial value that is adjusted to yield the final answer." For example last year we decided to enroll our daughter in dance classes figuring because she is so little that it would not be that expensive. We planned on 50 dollars a week. When we went and checked out the local dance studio we learned it was actually 60-70 dollars a week and so we had to adjust our final answer. After shopping around we were determined that that was the going rate and we had no choice but to adjust.

I am not too sure in either situation what I could have done differently I guess for the first example I could just be less cautious and assume that if they do catch it it's not the worst thing ever. It does not affect us health wise or anything. And for the second example I guess the only thing I could have done differently is not enroll her in class.