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Cognitive psychology as the science that examines how people reason, formulate judgments, and make decisions can provide a useful approach to problems in diagnosis.

For example a number of common errors have been identified ^[1]

• These include*

• availability heuristic (in which people judge likelihood by how easily examples spring to mind),
• anchoring heuristic (in which people stick with initial impressions),
• conformity
• framing effects (in which people make different decisions depending on how information is presented),
• obedience (in which people stop thinking when confronted with authority),
• premature closure (in which several alternatives are not pursued).
• Stereotyping

Often these cognitive shortcuts are useful but becoming aware of how, when misapplied, they lead to common errors may enable clinicians to make appropriate allowances.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ Redelmeier DA.(2005).Improving patient care. The cognitive psychology of missed diagnoses.Ann Intern Med. 2005 Jan 18;142(2):115-20.