Behavioural Economics Primer: Heuristics

This article gives an overview of the behavioural economics concept of heuristics, shortcuts that help us find quick solutions to complex questions.

Behavioural Economics Primer: Heuristics

Crawford Hollingworth The Behavioural Architects

Behavioural economics

This article is part of Warc's Behavioural Economics Primer.

Heuristics are shortcuts or rules of thumb for decision-making to aid us in finding a quick, satisfactory, but perhaps not perfect, answer to a complex question.

People frequently use heuristics so they don't have to go through the mental effort of carefully searching for an optimal solution where a less than optimal solution will do just fine. Understood from an evolutionary perspective this makes sense; thinking is metabolically costly and time-consuming, and so cheap 'good-enough' solutions can...

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