Definition
A compressed if-then the mind runs instead of fresh data — often mistaken for identity.
Origin
Kahneman and Tversky’s heuristics-and-biases program showed fast rules (availability, representativeness, anchoring) that save effort but skew judgment. Gigerenzer’s ecological rationality adds that some heuristics are adaptive in stable environments — the task is to know which shortcut is running, not to abolish all shortcuts.
Mechanism
When serenity slips, capture words + body first; the repeating sentence is usually a heuristic, not the full situation. I do not know how before a skill is defined often functions as an availability shortcut — treat it as data, then enumerate counter-examples (Self-support). Distinguish skewed bias shortcuts (Kahneman–Tversky) from ecologically rational fast-and-frugal rules (Gigerenzer) — frozen identity lines (I always fail prep) are often the wrong rule hardened into Mental Model.
Applications
After stake work: list advantages of not being serene — surfaces hidden payoffs behind the heuristic. Volume depth: Judgment Under Uncertainty (bias skew) · Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart (ecological fit) · Thinking, Fast and Slow · Behavioral change canon.
Sources
Cite
- Kahneman, D., Slovic, P., & Tversky, A. (Eds.). (1982). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Cambridge University Press
- Gigerenzer, G., Todd, P. M., & ABC Research Group. (1999). Simple heuristics that make us smart. Oxford University Press