Psychology: Heuristics, Biases, and Attribution Theories

Heuristics

Simple, efficient thinking strategies or mental shortcuts used to make quick judgments.

Representative heuristic

Judging whether someone/something belongs to a category based on how similar they are to the "typical" member of that category.

What important information do people often ignore when using the representative heuristic?

Base-rate information (actual statistical odds).

Availability heuristic

Judging the likelihood or frequency of something based on how easily examples come to mind.

Why does the availability heuristic happen?

Easy retrieval from memory makes events seem more common or likely.

How does media affect the availability heuristic?

Dramatic or memorable events are easier to recall, so people overestimate how often they occur.

What did Doob & Roberts (1988) show about the availability heuristic?

Vivid or memorable examples strongly influence people's judgments about frequency and likelihood.

What did Smith & Wilson (2002) demonstrate?

Easily recalled information affects judgments even when it is not statistically accurate.

What did Fox (2006) show?

People rely heavily on memorable examples rather than actual probabilities when making decisions.

Confirmation bias

The tendency to search for and remember information that confirms existing beliefs.

Anchoring effect

First impressions or initial information strongly influence later judgments.

Belief perseverance

Holding onto initial beliefs even after contradictory evidence is presented.

Ross, Lepper, & Lord (1979) findings

People accepted evidence supporting their beliefs and criticized evidence opposing them.

Why does belief perseverance happen?

The more people explain or defend their beliefs, the harder they become to change.

Bad-news bias

Negative information has a stronger impact on thinking and memory than positive information.

Why is bad news more influential?

It is more attention-grabbing and memorable.

What does bad-news bias do to us?

Makes us focus more on dangers, failures, and negative events.

Counterfactual thinking

Thinking about alternative ways events could have happened ("what if" thinking).

Why does counterfactual thinking increase emotions?

Imagining better outcomes makes disappointment feel stronger.

Medvec, Madey, & Gilovich (1995) Olympic medal study findings

Bronze medalists often looked happier than silver medalists because silver medalists imagined getting gold.

How can counterfactual thinking lead to future failures?

People may become stuck replaying mistakes instead of improving behavior.

Illusory thinking

Seeing patterns, control, or relationships that do not actually exist.

Illusory correlation

Perceiving a relationship between two things when none exists.

Illusion of control

Believing we can control chance events.

Hindsight bias

The "I knew it all along" phenomenon after learning an outcome.

Overconfidence phenomenon

Being more confident in judgments than actually correct.

When does overconfidence occur most?

On tasks that seem easy and when predicting far-future events.

How is overconfidence related to hindsight bias?

Hindsight bias makes outcomes seem predictable, increasing confidence in future judgments.

Attributions

Explanations for behavior and events.

Dispositional attribution

Explaining behavior based on personality or internal traits.

Situational attribution

Explaining behavior based on external circumstances.

Three parts of Kelley's covariation model

Consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus.

Consistency

Does the person behave this way repeatedly over time?

Distinctiveness

Does the person behave this way only in this situation?

Consensus

Do other people behave similarly in the same situation?

High consensus + high distinctiveness + high consistency usually leads to what?

External/situational attribution.

Low consensus + low distinctiveness + high consistency usually leads to what?

Internal/dispositional attribution.

Fundamental attribution error (FAE)

Overestimating personality traits and underestimating situational causes when explaining others' behavior.

Why do people make the FAE?

Other people are more perceptually noticeable than the situation.

Which cultures tend to show less FAE?

East Asian and Russian cultures.

What did Taylor & Fiske (1975) study?

Perceptual salience and attribution errors.

What did Taylor & Fiske (1975) find?

People focus on the most visually noticeable person and attribute behavior to them more.

How can perceptual salience explain FAE?

We focus more on people than situations, so we blame personality more than context.

Actor-observer bias

We explain our own behavior using situations but explain others' behavior using personality traits.

What happens first in the 2-step attribution process?

Automatic dispositional/internal attribution.

What happens second in the 2-step attribution process?

Adjustment for situational factors.

What is necessary to move to step 2 in the attribution process?

Motivation, attention, and cognitive effort.