Attribute substitution

What it is

Answering a hard question by unconsciously answering an easier one that feels related.

Related

• Anchoring bias
  An anchor offers an easy number to adjust from, which replaces the hard question of what the true value is.
• Availability heuristic bias
  "How easily do examples come to mind?" often replaces "how common is it?"
• Affect heuristic bias
  A common easier question to substitute is "how do I feel about it?", the affect heuristic.

Appears in

• Kahneman and Tversky's heuristics and biases#5: Attribute substitution

References

• Wikipedia: Attribute substitution en.wikipedia.org
• Kahneman and Tversky's heuristics and biases en.wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia: List of cognitive biases en.wikipedia.org
• Wikipedia: Cognitive bias codex en.wikipedia.org

More in “What it means: finding patterns and stories”