The effect of orthography on the usage of recognition heuristic

Abstract

This study examined the effect of orthography (kanji, kana, and alphabet) on the usage of recognition heuristic, in the context of ecological rationality research. Forty-five students participated and performed the task consisted' of randomly drawn two-alternative questions about population sizes of the 20 largest Chinese cities, except Beijing and Shanghai. It was found that kanji and kana tasks led to the usage of recognition heuristic more than alphabet task. Furthermore, judgments in kanji and kana tasks were more accurate than in alphabet task. These results suggested that the usage of recognition heuristic was facilitated when it increased judgment accuracy, and that recognition heuristic had ecological rationality.