A heuristic is a mental shortcut we – all humans – use in our decision making process. We develop heuristics because the costs associated with considering and evaluating EVERY decision would cripple our mental processing. We would constantly overheat our brains trying to make the simplest of decisions.
For example, if you are in a busy building and you are leaving, you don’t stop and carefully calculate which exit is the most efficient route to save you time. You also don’t stop and evaluate the relative safety of the door opening and the frame around the door. You also don’t stop to consider the possibility that you will become lodged in the door never to escape. There are a million other things you don’t evaluate.
What happens in your brain is something like this-
You: I want to leave the building.
Brain: Follow the other people leaving the building.
And, just like that, we’re outside.
A heuristic is not inherently good or bad, it just is. However, social psychologists and behavior specialists are coming to realize that there are some heuristics that can lead us down faulty decision making paths.
And that’s where the fun begins.