Recognition heuristic

The recognition heuristic (English recognition heuristic, also called recognition heuristic ) is a heuristic judgment of cognitive psychology. It says that is used in the assessment of multiple objects with respect to a criterion, under certain circumstances, their recognition ( Rekognition, of Engl. Recognition) as the sole decision-making aid.

• 4.1 Non- compensatory use of Rekognitionsinformation
• 4.2 Binary nature of Rekognitionsinformation
• 4.3 The recognition heuristic as a Process Model

Background

According to Herbert A. Simon's concept of bounded rationality, the human cognitive abilities are limited. For this reason, the optimal normative approach with too much effort is linked to many complex problems. To solve these problems why do people on heuristics or rules of thumb back - simplifying decision strategies in order to arrive at the best possible solution, but which do not necessarily have to be optimal ( satisficing ). The idea that people use simplifying heuristics for solving problems, was taken up in the following by many researchers who proposed heuristics in different areas.

The recognition heuristic was proposed in the context of a research program by Gerd Gigerenzer, Daniel G. Goldstein and colleagues, which focuses on quick and simple heuristics, and the conditions under which they can be successful. It is assumed that people have a collection of decision strategies ( a so-called adaptive toolbox ) from which they select the appropriate strategy depending on the situation and task.

Originally, the recognition heuristic was implemented as the first part of the Take- the-best heuristic. Finally, however, it was postulated as a stand-alone model. First, it was limited to the comparison of two objects, but was later extended.

Explanation

The recognition heuristic is a decision strategy for comparative judgments. If two objects are evaluated with respect to a certain criterion, it states the following:

"If one of two objects is Recognized and the other is not, then infer did the Recognized Object has the higher value with respect to the criterion. "

"If one of two objects is recognized and the other not, conclude that the recognized object has the higher value on the criterion. "

A typical and often -studied paradigm is the task to judge which of two cities has more inhabitants, such as San Diego or San Antonio. A person knows only one of the two cities, so they should consider this to be greater when using the recognition heuristic. If a person both cities known or both unknown, the recognition heuristic does not apply.

Ecological Rationality

The recognition heuristic is based on the assumption that in certain environments the recognition or non - recognition of an object is related systematically to the criterion to be assessed - for example, because cities with a population more frequently mentioned in the media and are therefore more likely to be detected. The recognition or non - recognition of a city would thus be a valid indication of its inhabitants. The strength of this association is called the recognition validity. It is shown that in many environments Rekognition is a valid reference. Because the recognition heuristic exploits the natural connection between recognition and criterion, it is referred to as ecologically rational.

Ignorance -based Decide

Another central assumption of Gigerenzer, Goldstein and colleagues is that it is the recognition heuristic to a non- compensatory strategy is: The recognition or non - recognition of an object is used as the sole information. Consequently, the decision is based solely on this Rekognitionsinformation and all other information is ignored.

Boundary conditions for the application

Several boundary conditions are established for the use of the recognition heuristic:

• Applying the recognition heuristic assumes that some objects are not detected. Only then it can come to the comparison of detected and undetected objects.
• The recognition heuristic should be used only when the recognition of an object is effectively connected with the criterion to be assessed in context, so it provides a valid information. Specifically, should influence the decision of recognition only if this any better than by installments.
• The person pronounces her judgment on the basis of their memory. For more information, you will not be provided.
• The recognition of an object should be attributed to the natural environment of a person and not to an experimental manipulation.

Less -Is -More Effect

One implication of the recognition heuristic is that under certain circumstances, less knowledge - in the sense of less recognized objects - can lead to better results: In an environment of recognition in strongly related to the criterion, individuals that recognize almost all objects, a disadvantage because they can apply the recognition heuristic rarely. In contrast, people would recognize only some objects, an advantage.

Key findings

In the classic experiments on the recognition heuristic persons have the task to make for a number of city-pairs, respectively judgments which city is larger. In addition, it is detected which city the person is known or not. In the evaluation of these experiments the city pairs are first classified according to the cases in which a person's recognition heuristic could have applied (all cases in which they recognized only one of the two cities). Finally, consider how many of these cases it has actually chosen the famous city. In one study, Goldstein and Gigerenzer report here values ​​of on average 90%.

An even popular science known findings on the recognition heuristic is the demonstration of the Less- Is- More- effect in people of different nationalities: German and U.S. Americans should make a judgment as to which is larger by two U.S. cities (San Diego or San Antonio). From the American participants, which were mostly known both cities, gave about 62 % the correct answer ( according to the former inhabitants of San Diego ), whereas 100% were with the German participants, most of whom only San Diego recognized. However, this finding was not without criticism, including because the recognition validity for German and American was not the same.

In several experiments it was shown that individuals are able to distinguish whether the use of the recognition heuristic is appropriate in a situation or not: War for example, the task to specify which is larger of two cities, the judgments of the people voted this often consistent with the predictions of the recognition heuristic. The task of specifying how far a city away from a certain point, this was not the case.

Criticism

To check the status of the recognition heuristic, a heated debate has developed. A number of findings refuted several assumptions of the recognition heuristic. These are considered below.

Non- compensatory use of Rekognitionsinformation

The original version of the recognition heuristic assumes that Rekognition is used as a single feature in the assessment. Several findings make this sole (non- compensatory ) using the Rekognitionsinformation question.

People seem to include other information in their judgment, if this complementary information about the judged size is (about whether the city, which is judged a football team has ). In addition, people select the object again recognized rare, when in fact it would be the wrong choice. This also suggests that Rekognition is not used as the sole information.

Binary nature of Rekognitionsinformation

The recognition heuristic implies that Rekognition representing binary information, so that an object is detected, either or not. It appears, however, that the speed of knowledge plays a role: the faster a known object is judged to be known, the more often it is assessed against an unknown object as bigger. The processing liquid appears to influence the judgment process, it additionally.

The recognition heuristic as a Process Model

Many studies on the recognition heuristic use as a measure of the use of the correspondence between the predictions of the recognition heuristic and actually observed judgments. This match is very high in many cases, which is interpreted as evidence for the sole use of the recognition heuristic.

The agreement between these predictions and the observations does not necessarily mean that the process adopted was the decisions are based. If alternative strategies (such as the use of other knowledge) the same predictions as to meet the recognition heuristic, allowed this degree no clear statement of the strategy actually used. Nevertheless, the measure used in this case, the amount of use of the recognition heuristic is overestimated. But undistorted measurements still show that Rekognition is used in a significant percentage of cases as the sole reference.

General results for entirely fictional heuristics quite a high level of agreement between the predicted and observed judgments - if use this information, which are ecologically rational, so actually related to the judgment dimension.

In summary, it can be deduced from the high predictive power of the recognition heuristic as a theoretical model does not infer that recognition is used as the sole reference in decision making. Advocate of the recognition heuristic argue against the fact that their critics have hardly proposed their own models. However, alternative models have been developed in recent years.