Griggs and Cox (1982) - Dual process model non abstract tasks and matching bias

aim

to investigate dual process model and see if matching bias was less in the Wason Selection task when the task was not abstract.

method

Participants were given Wason selection tasks,

Task 1: abstract not relatable/familiar context task

(which cards need to be turned over to test the idea that if a card shows an even number on one side then the other side is red? 3, 8, red, orange)

Task 2: not abstract relatable/familiar context task

(if a person is drinking beer then they must be over 18 years old. drinking beer, drinking coke, 22 years of age, 16 years of age)

participants were asked which cards have to be turned over in order to see whether they follow the rule.

findings

participants did better on the non abstract task, had more mistakes in the abstract task.

abstract task 1: 5/144 (3% solved the task) \n memory cueing task: 87/144 (60% solved the task)

the more abstract and less relevant the task is, the more likely that cognitive biases would be used to solve the problem

conclusions

shows that more relatable tasks, which system 1 can understand, the more accurate the answer will be. because the answer to question is in long term memory, allows system 1 to find a better/ correct answer

system 1 → long term memory, less abstract → more reliable

demonstrates that our decision making can be influenced by the system we use to process information.

strengths

\- Lab experiment → high control, high replicability

\- lab experiment → less influence of extraneous variables

\- quantitative data → less researcher bias

limitations

\- doesn’t consider prior knowledge of task

\- low ecological validity → artificial task (all of experiment, picking cards), not applicable to real life, not accurate representation of matching bias in real world

\- no direct measure → cant measure/ no concrete way of knowing if participant is thinking in system 1 or 2