Instruction
Rudy is a bit on the peculiar side. He has unusual tastes in movies and art, he is married to a performer, and he has tattoos on various parts of his body. In his spare time Rudy takes yoga classes and likes to collect old vinyl records. An outgoing and rather boisterous person, he has been known to act on a dare on more than one occasion.
What do you think Rudy's occupation most likely is?
A) Farmer
B) Librarian
C) Trapeze artist
D) Surgeon
E) Lawyer
Next, type your responses to the following questions in a format compatible with Microsoft Word (either .doc, .docx, or .rtf)
The questions:
Since Rudy is fictional and therefore does not exist, technically there is no right or wrong answer. However, the majority of people choose "trapeze artist” as his likely occupation because of the representativeness heuristic. In your own words, what exactly is the representativeness heuristic, and why does it lead most people to choose trapeze artist as Rudy's occupation?Which occupation did you choose? (As always, honesty is the best policy here - your grade is not affected by your choice!) And perhaps more importantly, what thought process did you use to arrive at your choice? Did you think along the lines of the representativeness heuristic, or did you go about selecting your answer in a different way?Do you think there is anything that could be done to discourage people from using heuristic thinking in this kind of context? Why or why not?