Judgment Heuristics and Biases - Essay Example

According to Gilovich, Griffin, and Kahneman (73), here is where the aspects of heuristics and biases emerge. According to this publication, heuristics refer to the psychological aspect instituting the easy and efficient convention that individuals often employ in the formation of judgments and the making of decisions. In many instances heuristics, which include mental shortcuts and focus on a specific aspect of an issue while ignoring others, not only work accordingly in numerous situations but, also has the possibility of causing systematic digression from probability, logic, or rational choice presumption. In essence, the features are frequently incredibly practical but, also occasionally, lead to systematic errors. The tendency to think in an explicit manner institutes biases. This discussion explores scenarios where I had to make heuristic decisions and bias judgments and justifies the descriptions of the features as mentioned.

Scenarios of Heuristic Decisions and Bias Judgement

The first scenario related to the position I held in the school’s football team as the captain and the facilitator of disciplinary actions on issues, among other roles. There is a time where one of the teammates failed to attend three subsequent, training sessions and gave reasons that neither had proof nor justified the absenteeism. He said he had visited the doctor on three occasions owing to a knee injury. He however failed to present the medical report claiming he would do the same at a later and unspecified time. Asked about the opinion of his case and the possible action to take, 90 percent of the team members confessed to seeing him at a gambling joint close to the school and thus considered his statement as untrustworthy besides suggesting suspension.

The remaining 10 percent pointed out that they knew him as an honest individual and therefore would not lie. Looking at the previous instances in which the teammate in question had faced disciplinary issues, only 20 percent of his explanations proved true. Moreover, during the times the team suggested the situation of innocence or guilt of an individual, 70 percent of their suggestions turned out to be factual and justified. As the leader, I chose to suspend the teammate considering the fact that 90 percent of the teams’ suggestions, 80 percent of his past records and 70 percent of the group's suggestion history pointed out a guilty verdict on him. This was irrespective of the fact that I had no proof of his guilt or innocence.