<P> In psychology, heuristics are simple, efficient rules which people often use to form judgments and make decisions . They are mental shortcuts that usually involve focusing on one aspect of a complex problem and ignoring others . These rules work well under most circumstances, but they can lead to systematic deviations from logic, probability or rational choice theory . The resulting errors are called "cognitive biases" and many different types have been documented . These have been shown to affect people's choices in situations like valuing a house, deciding the outcome of a legal case, or making an investment decision . Heuristics usually govern automatic, intuitive judgments but can also be used as deliberate mental strategies when working from limited information . </P> <P> Cognitive scientist Herbert A. Simon originally proposed that human judgments are limited by available information, time contraints, and cognitive limitations, calling this bounded rationality . In the early 1970s, psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman demonstrated three heuristics that underlie a wide range of intuitive judgments . These findings set in motion the heuristics and biases research program, which studies how people make real - world judgments and the conditions under which those judgments are unreliable . This research challenged the idea that human beings are rational actors, but provided a theory of information processing to explain how people make estimates or choices . This research, which first gained worldwide attention in 1974 with the Science paper "Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases", has guided almost all current theories of decision - making, and although the originally proposed heuristics have been challenged in the further debate, this research program has changed the field by permanently setting the research questions . </P>

How can knowledge of the availability heuristic help you to win an argument
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