Heuristic processing

Our brain uses three strategies to make decisions – logic, statistics or heuristics.  Heuristics are unconscious mental short-cuts or ‘rules of thumb’ that you use when thinking and deciding.

The word heuristic comes from the Greek word meaning ‘to find.’ It has the same root as ‘eureka’. Heuristics help us find quick solutions to problems with little effort on our behalf. They might not be the best solutions, but we are happy to live with them. 

Definition: “A heuristic is a strategy that ignores part of the information, with the goal of making decisions more quickly, frugally, and/or accurately than more complex methods” (Gigerenzer & Gaissmaier, 2011).

You form your rules of thumb and intuitions over time through repeated exposure to:

• experiences
• impressions
• feelings
• intentions.

Your rules of thumb might also be a result of cultural influences or other belief systems. 

You are constantly bombarded with information, but you do not always have the time or headspace to analyse and consider every piece of relevant information before making a decision.

Instead, your brain uses mental short-cuts to make life easy for you. Your brain uses the small amount of information available to you to subconsciously put together a logical story that is close enough to reality to encourage you to act.

Heuristic processing involves your brain using these mental shortcuts you have developed to arrive at a quick decision. It requires little thinking on your part.  You are not even aware you are thinking. In this way, heuristic processing allows you to make thousands of decisions each day quickly and effectively.