Daniel Read
The similarity heuristic
Read, Daniel; Grushka-Cockayne, Yael
Authors
Yael Grushka-Cockayne
Abstract
Decision makers are often called on to make snap judgments using fast-and- frugal decisionrules called cognitive heuristics. Although early research into cognitive heuristicsemphasized their limitations, more recent research has focused on their high level ofaccuracy. In this paper we investigate the performance a subset of the representativenessheuristic which we call the similarity heuristic.Decision makers who use it judge the likelihood that an instance is a member of one category rather than another by the degree towhich it is similar to others in that category. We provide a mathematical model of theheuristic and test it experimentally in a trinomial environment. The similarity heuristic turnsout to be a reliable and accurate choice rule and both choice and response time data suggest itis also how choices are made.
Citation
Read, D., & Grushka-Cockayne, Y. (2007). The similarity heuristic
Publication Date | Mar 20, 2007 |
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Deposit Date | Dec 7, 2012 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 29, 2024 |
Series Title | Durham University Business School Economics Finance Accounting Working Papers |
Keywords | Heuristics and biases, Fast-and-frugal heuristics, Similarity, Representative design, Base-rate neglect, Bayesian inference. |
Publisher URL | http://www.dur.ac.uk/business/faculty/working-papers/ |
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