Psychology: Questions and Response, Essay Example

Availability Heuristic:

Availability heuristic is the process by which the human brain generates a restored data from the memory to suggest particular probabilities that may occur in relation to particular situations. Most often than not, the formulation of possibilities come from the stored knowledge and experiences that a person has encountered in the past which becomes handy in identifying the different future possibilities on current situations that have relation to the past experiences and understanding of an individual. For instance, one knows that when he plunges into a swimming pool, water will splash out of it and might get others beside the pool wet. This could be assumed if the individual mentioned already tried the same activity in the past or if he has watched movies or programs featuring the said act.

Representativeness heuristic

Prediction of the likelihood of an event is the primary characteristic of representativeness heuristic. Undeniably, the brain formulates possibilities based on the connection of a situation to another that has a liking to it. Although this assumption is useful, it could be assumed that this is also the reason why many individuals land in uncompounded results when utilizing such a process in decision-making. For instance, it rained today at 2pm, because of this, it is assumed by people that it will likely rain at the same time tomorrow or at least within the range of time between 1pm to 4pm.

Anchoring Heuristic

Anchoring heuristic is dependent on the first idea that is presented regarding a situation. In psychology, this is often referred to as the focalism approach that involves cognitive bias. When it is used in decision-making, people often incur bias in judgment. For instance, a woman may look 18 years old even though she is already 28, hence people assume that she ‘looks young’. When another woman is presented at the same age of 28 but looks just like her age, the same people may assume that there is a reason behind the older look hence judging her lifestyle and at times even her personal dealings in life.

Base Rate Neglect

This condition of neglect involves the conditional probability that a particular hypothesis have been assumed and supported with a particular evidence without even assuming the existence of another probability. This error often occurs when a people tend to see matters in a general approach. For instance, there are several people living in a town; 47% of them are likely to graduate from college and get good jobs. The rest may have other possibilities in life other than just graduating from college. Likely, the error here is that not all the residents of the said town are students are young at age. Hence, the assumption becomes null.

HYPOTHALAMUS: The hypothalamus is responsible for the regulation of homeostasis. This allows for the control of bodily dictation from the mind, which makes a person thirsty, hungry or other instant reactions to the environment. With the utilization of neurotransmission, the cells react accordingly to the message being sent through them. In this process, the hypothalamus becomes responsible for the modulation and control of the synthesis of neurohormones. This is how the behavior of a person regarding a certain situation is affected by the element of brain function that the hypothalamus hosts.

Reference:

Kolb, B and Wishaw, I.Q., (2011). Introduction to Brain and Behavior, (3rd Ed). Worth Publishers