Question

Write a description of at least one real-life problem that has to be solved or decision that has to be made using good judgment, and obstacles encountered while making the decision(s) or solving the problem(s) (Again, these can be real examples or imagined, but they should clearly illustrate your understanding of the obstacles described.)
Include at least three key terms in your example(s):
belief perseverance, fixation, confirmation bias, functional fixedness, counterproductive heuristics, overconfidence, framing effect.
A brief description of how each of the obstacles was overcome, or how each could be overcome in the future?

Answer 1

An example that I would give of a situation in which a real-life problem has to be solved or a decision has to be made using good judgement would be the case of deciding what to study in university:

"When I had to decide what I was going to study, I immediately put journalism out of my mind, as I believed it did not suit my personality. Even though I loved writing, I had always imagined that journalists had to be aggressive, overconfident and pushy, and that news only happened in other, more interesting places. I could not see how that could fit me. The school counselor I talked to kept telling me that this was not the case, but my belief perseverance would not let me listen to other information. In the end I decided to go for accounting. I believed that accounting was only about boring numbers, and for the first few months, I was responsible of confirmation bias, as that was the only thing I noticed about my studies. However, over time, I grew to like the path I had chosen, and I do not regret it."