Final answer:
Using a representative heuristic allows you to make a quick decision based on a familiar situation's prototype. Availability heuristic and confirmation bias also impact decision-making, with the former based on memory's ease of access and the latter on supporting existing beliefs.
Step-by-step explanation:
Using a(n) representative heuristic allows you to make a quick decision based on a well-learned prototype of the situation. When encountering situations that seem familiar, we often rely on representative heuristics to make decisions, which could involve assessing the likelihood of an event by comparing it to an existing prototype in our minds. This mental shortcut can be quite efficient for decision-making but can also lead to errors if the situation at hand doesn't actually match the prototype or if the prototype is based on skewed information.
The availability heuristic is another cognitive shortcut that involves relying on immediate examples that come to mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, event, or decision. These examples often come to mind because of their recency, vividness, or emotional impact, which makes them more memorable but not necessarily representative of reality. This heuristic can cause individuals to overestimate the likelihood of events that are more memorable, despite their actual statistical probability being low.
Confirmation bias refers to the tendency to search for, interpret, and recall information that confirms preexisting beliefs, while disregarding information that contradicts those beliefs. For example, if someone believes that left-handed people are more creative, they may notice and remember every instance that supports this belief, while ignoring the right-handed people who are also creative.