Decision making trap
I often make mistakes while making decisions because I fall in the trap of available heuristics. Available heuristics is the short cut that the mind chooses to follow while making decision. While making the decision, mind will search for the information that is readily available in the mind rather than searching for other alternatives. The decision is made instantly based on the example, information or the situation that is recalled by the mind.
Last time I fell in this trap was when I ended up spending hundreds of dollars purchasing the security features for my car. At that time, a lot of car thefts were reported. Police were finding it difficult to control the thefts and the news made the headlines in major news channels in the country. I was watching that news and my mind started believing that there is a risk of theft of my car. Those news about the increasing car thefts was covering my mind and my mind made a judgment that I can be the victim of car theft really soon. So, without investigating the seriousness of the issue, I instantly made the decision to spend few hundred dollars to enhance the security features of my car. Without giving the second thought, I visited the nearest store and installed security features on my car. Later, I came to know that there were no any issues of car theft in my county. The issues were reported in other states while my state did not have any issue of car theft. For no reason, I spent my money. This was because of available heuristic that my mind made the decision to buy security features based on the theft reports available to the mind. The available information about car theft in my mind resisted me to make further understanding of the situation, and I ended up with useless decision.
