cognitive miser

n. One of several competing theories among contemporary (early 21st-century) social cognitive perspectives about human thought processes in the social world. According to the cognitive miser perspective, which is supported by a wealth of research, humans are inherently frugal with cognitive resources because we have only a limited amount of mental resources to deal with our complex social environment. Therefore, we develop heuristics, or "mental shortcuts," to make our cognitive processes more efficient. By using such mechanisms as schemas and stereotypes, we simplify our cognitive processing of social situations. Rather than taking a thorough, data-driven, labor-intensive, slower approach to understanding social situations, we tend to employ these mental shortcuts in order to conserve cognitive energy.

一 MWP