Recognition heuristic
Encyclopedia
The recognition heuristic has been used as a model in the psychology of judgment and decision making
and as a heuristic
in artificial intelligence
. It states: :
Daniel Goldstein
and Gerd Gigerenzer
quizzed students in Germany
and the United States
on the populations of both German and American cities. Each group scored slightly higher on the foreign cities despite only recognizing a fraction of them. The experimenters theorized that the students would be able to attain such high accuracy on foreign cities if they relied on the heuristic and particular conditions, concerning cue validity
for example, were met. They posited the heuristic as a domain specific
strategy for inference.
In later research, Daniel M. Oppenheimer
presented participants pairs of cities made from actual cities and fictional cities. Although the recognition heuristic predicts that participants would judge the actual (recognizable) cities to be larger, participants judged the fictional (unrecognizable) cities to be larger, showing that more than recognition can play a role in such inferences.
Research by Newell & Fernandez and Richter & Späth tests the non-compensatory prediction of the recognition heuristic and states that "recognition information is not used in an all-or-none fashion but is integrated with other types of knowledge in judgment and decision making."
Decision making
Decision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.- Overview :Human performance in decision terms...
and as a heuristic
Heuristic
Heuristic refers to experience-based techniques for problem solving, learning, and discovery. Heuristic methods are used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution, where an exhaustive search is impractical...
in artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
. It states: :
Daniel Goldstein
Daniel Goldstein
Daniel Goldstein is an Americanpsychologist known for the specification and testing ofheuristics and models of bounded rationality in the field ofjudgment and decision making.-Academic career:...
and Gerd Gigerenzer
Gerd Gigerenzer
Gerd Gigerenzer is a German psychologist who has studied the use of bounded rationality and heuristics in decision making, especially in medicine...
quizzed students in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on the populations of both German and American cities. Each group scored slightly higher on the foreign cities despite only recognizing a fraction of them. The experimenters theorized that the students would be able to attain such high accuracy on foreign cities if they relied on the heuristic and particular conditions, concerning cue validity
Cue validity
Cue validity is the conditional probability that an object falls in a particular category given a particular feature or cue. The term was popularized by , and especially by Eleanor Rosch in her investigations of the acquisition of so-called basic categories .-Definition of cue validity:Formally,...
for example, were met. They posited the heuristic as a domain specific
Domain specificity
Domain specificity is a theoretical position in cognitive science that argues that many aspects of cognition are supported by specialized, presumably evolutionarily specified, learning devices...
strategy for inference.
In later research, Daniel M. Oppenheimer
Daniel M. Oppenheimer
Daniel M. Oppenheimer is an associate professor of psychology at Princeton University's Department of Psychology. Primarily interested in cognitive psychology, he researches causal discounting, charitable giving, perceptual fluency, and people's perceptions of randomness...
presented participants pairs of cities made from actual cities and fictional cities. Although the recognition heuristic predicts that participants would judge the actual (recognizable) cities to be larger, participants judged the fictional (unrecognizable) cities to be larger, showing that more than recognition can play a role in such inferences.
Research by Newell & Fernandez and Richter & Späth tests the non-compensatory prediction of the recognition heuristic and states that "recognition information is not used in an all-or-none fashion but is integrated with other types of knowledge in judgment and decision making."