Cox & Griggs (1982)

Thinking & Decision-Making: Models, Biases

Aim

To see if matching bias was less commonly used to solve the Wason Selection Task when the task was less abstract & more personally relevant.

Research Method

Experiment

IV

DV

Sample

144 psych uni students

Procedure

Participants carried out a ‘Wason Selection task (similar procedure to above)

Some of the tasks were “abstract” in nature (similar Qs above e.g. numbers & letters) 

Some tasks were "concrete" in nature (e.g. drinking beer, drinking coke, 18yo, 22yo)

Findings

Abstract task: 3% solved the task correctly.

Concrete task: 60% solved the task correctly.

Conclusion

With the non-abstract task, more people picked the correct cards.

This may be because instead of showing matching bias, the participants made their decisions instead based on relevant past experience, and thus were more likely to pick the correct card - this is referred to as ‘memory-cueing’ hypothesis

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

Consequently, it could be inferred that matching bias is not as applicable to certain real life situations where the thinker has relevant past experience & knowledge. 

IF Q ABOUT MODEL: Therefore, it can be suggested that a major assumption of the model - that system 1 is highly error prone - is not true in all situations.