Heuristic
Any approach to problem solving, learning, or discovery that employs a practical method — not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, logical, or rational — but instead sufficient for reaching an immediate goal.
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Origin
From the Greek heuriskein, “to find” — the same root as Archimedes’ “eureka.” The term entered modern psychology through Herbert Simon’s work on bounded rationality in the 1950s, and was expanded by Kahneman and Tversky in the 1970s, who cataloged specific heuristics (availability, representativeness, anchoring) and the systematic biases they produce.
Updated February 22, 2026