PLS HELP ASAP! 25PTS Respond to parts 1 and 2 below.

Explain the two primary ways to solve problems: algorithms and heuristics.
Describe how people can make errors in thinking by describing the following concepts: confirmation bias, mental set, intuition, availability heuristic, representative heuristic, overconfidence, belief perseverance, and framing.

1. The two primary ways to solve problems are through algorithms and heuristics. Algorithm is a methodical, step-by-step procedure for finding a solution to a problem. Algorithms look at every possible alternative and guarantees a solution. Heuristic is a strategy or guiding principle used to make judgements or solve problems efficiently. Heuristic helps reduce the number of alternatives and is essentially a mental shortcut.  

2. People are prone to making errors in thinking in various ways. Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence. A person may seek out "proof" that further backs up their beliefs. For example if someone believes something about climate change and they were disputed, they might seek out evidence that maintains their beliefs. Mental set is the tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past. For example, if someone fixed their car with duct tape and it broke again they would use the duct tape once more. Intuition is an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning. An example of this could be a student gets a feeling that one answer on their test is the correct answer, no strings attached, but end up getting it wrong because they followed their intuition. Availability heuristic is when estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory. For example, if someone sees on the news that a plan crashed, they could refuse to fly on airplanes ever again. Representativeness heuristic is when estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; which may lead us to ignore other relevant information. For example, if someone basis their view of a product or company off of one positive or negative review it would be considered a representativeness heuristic. Overconfidence is the tendency to be more confident than correct- to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgements. For example, if a person were to jump off a cliff into water without getting hurt, they will be overconfident the next time and may get hurt. Belief perseverance is clinging to one's initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been distorted. For example, if someone lost a lot of weight and looked in the mirror and said "I'm so fat," that would be considered belief perseverance. Lastly, framing is the way the issue is posed; how an issue is worded can significantly affect decisions and judgements. The whole glass half full or half empty is an example of framing.

Hope this helps!!

- Kay :)

like many students at university, you may be unhappy about the results you attain in exams. you may feel that even with all you are doing there must be something more -- or different-- you could be doing to get better grades. we have all at some time or other heard of that student who only studies a couple of hours for final exams and scores a's every time. we stand in awe of those who seem to breeze through without undue effort and seem to need very little in the way of studying to nail an exam. the reasons for success, in what i think are the vast majority of cases, are less esoteric than many students think: successful students consistently apply a series of productive strategies with view to attaining clearly identified learning and grade goals throughout the academic term.