Common Sense High Reliability Organizing (HRO) in the Response to COVID-19

Abstract

We find descriptions of common sense in the domains of anthropology, artificial intelligence, and psychiatry. This is the common sense for adaptation, a form of practical intelligence that better predicts success in everyday experiences, if not real-world survival. This common sense is experienced-based knowledge rather than rule-based. When unexpected situations occur, it supports continuous assessments and decisions to adjust to the conditions at hand. Overwhelmingly practical, common-sense deals with a concrete situation on its own terms. Common sense describes cultural knowledge and behaviors. Inquiry drives practical common sense.

Inductive Processes, Heuristics, and Biases Modulated by High-Reliability Organizing (HRO) for COVID-19 and Disasters

“…Leonhard Euler (24) described this, "We should use such a discovery as an opportunity to investigate more than exactly the properties discovered and to prove or disprove them; in both cases, we may learn something useful." Through induction and common sense, we find the regularity and coherence behind the visible surface; we discover the "engine" driving the problem (25)(26)(27).…”

“…Speed of connection does come from a heuristic, but it is the availability heuristic discussed below. However, practical, common-sense decisionmaking evaluates the consequences of actions, tempering the speed of association (27). For innovative decision making, "a major part of the decision-making task [is] to discover what consequences will follow" (43).…”

“…Herbert Simon and Allen Newell (36) recognized that people have limited time and knowledge; therefore, they must make inferences from the available information. This means contingently ignoring part of the information while using partially relevant information when we don't know which part is relevant (27,47). Heuristics are a large part of practical, common-sense problem solving (27).…”

“…This means contingently ignoring part of the information while using partially relevant information when we don't know which part is relevant (27,47). Heuristics are a large part of practical, common-sense problem solving (27).…”

“…Representativeness, closely tied in with complexity and "reluctance to simplify," leads us to regard partial information as if it were complete information: what you see represents what is happening. This is a difficult one to break because practical, commonsense problem solving uses partial information (27), which is also all we have when we begin to engage. When we recognize the bias of representativeness, we can reevaluate the situation and update and revise our beliefs.…”