Assignment task: In this assignment, you are to apply the concepts of cognitive biases and heuristics to your own life. Of the 8 heuristics and biases discussed in class, identify 4 that you have observed in your own life, either currently or in the past.
- Representativeness heuristic
- Anchoring and Adjusting heuristics
- Availability heuristic
- Confirmation bias
- Hindsight bias
- Scarcity heuristic
- Mental sets
- Functional fixedness
For each heuristic or bias, you are to do the following:
1. Describe the heuristic. Name the bias/heuristic and summarize the definition.
2. Describe the situation where you observed the heuristic or bias occurring in your life. Your description should be clear enough so that someone who was not there could understand what occurred.
3. Describe how the heuristic or bias affected your thought or behaviour at that time. Did you realize how the bias or heuristic was affecting your decision? Did the heuristic/bias have a negative or positive effect on your ability to solve a problem or make a decision? Explain your answer
For each description, you need to demonstrate a clear understanding of what the heuristic or bias is and how it affects your problem-solving or decision-making abilities.