Question

Heuristics are mental shortcuts. Select one and give me an example of how you use it when you shop.

Answer 1

Heuristics are mental shortcuts because-

1>Efforts are reduced- Heuristics is a type of cognitive laziness which is used by people because heuristics tends to take less mental effort while choosing and substituting.

2>Substitution of attributes - People will chose simpler or relevant questions rather than choosing complex and difficult question.

3>Fast and frugal - they tend to be more on accurate side than being biased . It is used because mainly they are correct and fast.

Types of Heuristics are -

A>The Affect Heuristics - In this type emotions(fear,pleasure or surprise) plays a vital role when choices are to be made. Example,in this case if you are in a market for a television or a bicycle , If you are in a positive mood the decision will mainly focus on their benefits more and will see lower risk while making a decision. And when you are in a negative mood you will emphasize more in the risk department like TV is bad for eyes as it produces blue light etc. and will see way to less benefits .

B>The Availability Heuristics - In this type the decision is based upon how easy something that can be brought to mind .Here when you are taking any decisions to will likely to remember few relevant examples in relation to the topic. Example - If You are buying a plane ticket , and suddenly think about the recent plane crashes which has happened , then you will feel that air travel is dangerous and you will opt some other way of travel be it be by car or by train. So you will choose to travel by car or buy a train ticket. Here marketers spent a lot of money on advertisement which helps a consumer to recall their product in mind.

C> The Representative Heuristics - In this type of Heuristics the decision is based upon tendency to judge probabilities and how much one thing resembles another, stereotyping is a great example of this type of heuristics. Example- Marketers will try to package their new product somewhat in the manner how a big reputed company does to lure people in buying their product. So if in the market to look for Olay Skincare and see a product that looks similar to it and cost less , then you will go for that product.