Representativeness heuristic

• What is the representative heuristic?

  • the belief that small samples should reflect larger patterns, leading to the assumption that random events have predictable patterns
• What is the gamblers fallacy?

  • belief if something happens more frequently than normal, it will happen less frequently in the future (or vice versa)
• What famous example illustrates the gambler’s fallacy?

  • in 1913, a Monte Carlo roulette wheel landed on black 26 items in a row, leading gamblers to incorrectly believe red was ‘due’ and lose money
• How does the representative heuristic affect problem gamblers?

  • they believe they are ‘due’ for a win or can predict gambling outcomes