ERRORS IN HUMAN COGNITION

Even when we become professionals, this sort of erring works away within our minds....[It] is governed, in large part, unconsciously by two spontaneous rules: 'acquiescence’ and 'segregation.’ We can think of these as rules of ... 'mental sloth’:

'Acquiescence’ means that when we are faced with a reasonable formulation of a problem involving choice, we accept it in the terms in which it is formulated and do not seek an alternative form. In other words, we ... seek to solve a problem as presented. Thanks to our cognitive sloth, we become prisoners of the frame we are offered.

[Segregation:] We isolate the problem from its global context; the problem itself becomes the immediate and exclusive center of our attention. We do not take into account all the pros and cons of our choice and its consequences. Having narrowly considered only the choices offered us, rather than considering the various global possibilities or probabilities available ... in myopic fashion we take up only those actions and solutions that have an immediate effect on the situation.