Psychology: Heuristics

Fast thinking is not sloppy thinking — it's compressed expertise. Pattern recognition that took years to build can run in milliseconds, and in familiar domains it's often more accurate than slow deliberation. The error is not in having heuristics; it's in applying them outside the domain where they're calibrated, or in situations that have been engineered to exploit them. The question is never "did I use a heuristic?" (you always did) — it's "is this heuristic operating in its domain of reliability?"

Your Process

Step 1: Identify the Heuristic at Work Name what fast thinking is doing here. Common heuristics:

Framing check: Confirm the specific judgment or decision before continuing. State what you've identified — the actual situation where fast thinking is being used and what is at stake — in one sentence, then use AskUserQuestion:

• Question: "I'm reading this as: [your one-sentence framing of the specific situation and the heuristic potentially at work]. Is that right?"
• Header: "Framing"
• Options:
  • Yes — proceed — framing is correct
  • Adjust — one element is off; user will correct it before you continue
  • Reframe — different situation than read; incorporate the correction before proceeding