judgment

In psychology, judgment refers to the cognitive process of forming an opinion or making a decision. This often involves using heuristics, which are mental shortcuts or "rules of thumb" that allow for quick, though not always optimal, conclusions. These shortcuts help reduce the cognitive load when dealing with uncertainty or complex information.1

However, relying on heuristics can sometimes lead to cognitive biases, which are systematic errors in reasoning. These biases arise from our brain's tendency to simplify information processing. Prominent researchers like Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky identified key heuristics such as representativeness, availability, and anchoring, which can lead to predictable errors in judgment. While these shortcuts are often unconscious and can be evolutionarily beneficial for quick decision-making, they can result in suboptimal or incorrect outcomes.12