For this post, I wanted to briefly comment on the "quiz" we took at the beginning of Monday's class. At first, I thought the quiz was really pointless. However, once we started discussing the questions, it became obvious to me that the exercise was actually a good lesson in how to, and how not to make decisions. The central idea of the quiz was how heuristics effect the decision making process. Having had a psychology class last spring, I have heard of heuristics before, but did not even think to relate them to the in-class quiz. After discussing the results, I learned just how prevalent heuristics are in an individual’s decision making process, and how biased a person's decision can be because of them. I feel the availability heuristic is the most prevalent in my life at the moment, as I am deciding which professors I want to take for my classes next semester. I have talked to many friends who have had the available professors, and have read reviews online to try and ease my decision making process. Utilizing a tool such as online reviews and ratings brings the availability heuristic into play. For example, if I am looking for a professor who is very structured, and decide not to choose a professor because of the negative reviews and ratings he or she received, I am a victim of the availability heuristic. The professor may be very structured, but received the negative reviews as a result of some other factor, such as not being available outside of the classroom. Ergo, if I do decide not to take this professor, I am making that decision for the wrong reasons. As scheduling is rapidly approaching, I'm sure many of you are in the same boat with me. Hopefully now that we know about the presence of heuristics in decision making, we can refine our decision making process and arrive at the right decision with greater ease.
A agree with your point about teacher selection. I usually start by checking out a teacher's reviews an comments by other students, but these results aren't always accurate. I have been forced to take teachers with horrible feedback, but my experience with them was great during class. I have also taken teachers with good remarks and comments but ended up hating their class. In the end personal preference matters most, so picking a teacher is a tricky thing, because students and their learning styles are different.
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