Behavioral Heuristics

Assignment 1: Discussion—Behavioral Heuristics

Behavioral heuristics, such as availability, anchoring, vividness, storage, conjunction fallacy, and representativeness, all reflect behavioral traits, which if left unchecked may lead to systematic bias in the choices you make. For example, anchoring and availability can lead to disastrous decisions.

You may know how to recognize these heuristics, but consider how they may have influenced you in the past.

Find at least one example from your own career where you, or another manager, allowed one of these or another pitfall, to sway you from the mean.

Respond to the following:

• Why did you/they ignore the base rates?
• What other statistically relevant factors did you/they fail to incorporate?
• How could you have altered the framing of the situation to make a better decision?

Write your initial response in approximately 300 words. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.

   

16

16

8

40

Assignment 1 Grading Criteria	Maximum Points
Initial response: Was insightful, original, accurate, and timely.Was substantive and demonstrated advanced understanding of concepts.Compiled/synthesized theories and concepts drawn from a variety of sources to support statements and conclusions.
Discussion response and participation: Responded to a minimum of two peers in a timely manner.Offered points of view supported by research.Asked challenging questions that promoted the discussion.Drew relationships between one or more points in the discussion.
Writing: Wrote in a clear, concise, formal, and organized manner.Responses were error free.Information from sources, where applicable, was paraphrased appropriately and accurately cited.
Total: