Symptoms of a myocardial infarction can differ between individuals. Women who experienced a myocardial infarction were later interviewed by a researcher about their decision to seek treatment. Many participants noted that they delayed seeking treatment because their symptoms didn't match the "prototypical" heart attack symptoms they had seen in the media. Which concept best explains this phenomenon?

Question

Symptoms of a myocardial infarction can differ between individuals.  Women who experienced a myocardial infarction were later interviewed by a researcher about their decision to seek treatment.  Many participants noted that they delayed seeking treatment because their symptoms didn't match the "prototypical" heart attack symptoms they had seen in the media.  Which concept best explains this phenomenon?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

11ecba2d_0d9a_8dd6_a3bf_fb9bfd49120b_MD0008_00 Heuristics are mental shortcuts that allow for fast problem solving and decision making but sometimes lead to inaccurate conclusions. The representativeness heuristic is the tendency to compare things (eg, people, events) to mental prototypes when making judgments. For example, some people (often women) experience "atypical" symptoms during a myocardial infarction (MI), such as nausea or upper back pressure. Media representations of chest and left arm pain as "prototypical" symptoms of an MI may lead such individuals to incorrectly assume they are not experiencing an MI if their symptoms do not match this prototype. Therefore, women delaying treatment because their symptoms don't match "prototypical" symptoms is best explained by the representativeness heuristic. (Choice B) The availability heuristic is the tendency to believe that if something is easily recalled from memory, it must be common or likely (eg, if several relatives have been diagnosed with lung cancer, an individual might inaccurately assume that lung cancer is the most common type of cancer). Participants comparing their symptoms to a prototype is an example of the representativeness, not availability, heuristic. (Choice C) The actor-observer bias, an attributional bias that describes the tendency to attribute one's own actions to external factors but the actions of others to internal factors, does not best explain the phenomenon of participants comparing their symptoms to a prototype. (Choice D) Hindsight bias, a cognitive bias in which an event is perceived as having been predictable after it has occurred, does not best explain the phenomenon of participants comparing their symptoms to a prototype. Educational objective: Heuristics are mental shortcuts that save time but may lead to inaccurate judgments. The representativeness heuristic is the tendency to compare things (eg, people, events) to mental prototypes. The availability heuristic is the tendency to believe that if something is easily recalled from memory, it must be common or likely.

Symptoms of a Myocardial Infarction Can Differ Between Individuals