Overcoming Miserly Processing: Detection, Override, and Mindware

Abstract

Errors in heuristics and biases tasks can derive from different reasons. In order to understand those errors, this chapter uncovers three mental characteristics required for rational thinking: conflict detection, override and mindware. Failures in their processing can be divided in two categories – problems with miserly processing and problems with mindware. Heuristics and biases tasks differently depend on conflict detection, override and mindware, which allows identifying the underlying cause of an error if one occurred. Taxonomy of thinking errors and description of heuristics and biases tasks to assess those are described.