Research Methods Quiz 1

Cognitive Biases Def.

Systemic errors in thinking that affect judgement / decision-making

Cognitive Biases (+)

decision making/thinking is faster/more efficient

Cognitive Biases (-)

Can lead to (serious) errors in judgement

Confirmation Bias/Confirmation Hypothesis Testing Def.

tendency to seek out, interpret, and remember info that confirms our beliefs, and minimize, discount, or ignore info that dis-confirms our beliefs

E.g. Helps explain why our self-images are so stable

(self-verification theory)

Study Wason’s Rule Discovery Task

1. People do not proceed optimally in testing hypothesis

2. Rather than trying to falsify, people often try to confirm a hypothesis

Test: identify rule that applies to series of three numbers

What can Wason’s Rule Discovery Task lead to?

1. Influence how we gather info/prevent objectivity

2. Influence how we interpret and recall information

3. Influence decisions and lead to poor/faulty choices

Self-Fulfilling Prophecies/Beliefs Def.

belief that ends to its own fulfillment

a. process whereby one’s expectations about ourselves/others lead us to behave in ways that confirms those expectations

b. more complex and dynamic version of confirmation bias

Belief Perseverance Error def.

tendency to retain our beliefs despite facing evidence to the contrary

a. confirmation bias results in belief perseverance effect

Overconfidence Effect Def.

tendency to be more confident than correct

Overconfidence Effect Outcomes

a. overestimating the accuracy of one’s beliefs, predictions, ability and knowledge

b. mistaken judgements are typically recalled as times when one was ‘almost right’

c. Cognitive Bias leading to errors in prediction/judgement (vs. confident personality)

Dispositional/Internal Attributions

attributing behavior to traits, attitudes, and enduring internal states

Situational/External Attributions

attributing behavior to aspects of the environment, including other people

Why do we make attributions?

Accurate Attributions can simplify our world by helping us to:

1. Explain the causes of behavior and outcomes

2. Predict the future behavior of others

3. Respond to social situations in an appropriate way

How accurate is the Attribution Process?

Despite its basis in the desire to accurately explain, predict, and control the social world, the attribution process has some important biases

Fundamental Attribution Error (attribution only for other’s behavior) Def.

a. tendency to attribute behavior of others to dispositional factors

b. tendency to ignore situational determinants of other’s behavior

What is Joes & Harris (1967)

Participants assigned to read a short essay written by another person about Castro

a. Four Conditions

1. Pro/Anti Castro

2. Assigned vs. Chosen

What is the essay writer’s true attitude toward Castro?

Internal Attribution for behavior - Jones & Harris (1967)

Despite knowing the author’s choice of topic was eternally caused (no choice condition), people still assumed the content reflected the author’s true attitude toward Castro

What causes the Fundamental Attribution Effect Process?

may occur bc people tend to automatically make dispositional attributions then only use situational information to discount/correct their initial evaluation

a. correction more likely if contextual info is very compelling or salient

negative/unexpected

Cultural Differences in Fundamental Attribution Effect (MIiller 1984)

I. South Asians (India): explained behaviors in terms of social roles, obligations, and situational factors // focused on contextual factors

II. European American: explained behaviors in terms of dispositional traits // focused on individual attributes

Cultural Differences in Fundamental Attribution Effect (Choi & Nisbett (1998))

Participants either chose or were assigned a position on a topic (for/against)

I. American Participants: equally strong inferences about essay writer regardless of choice v. no choice condition

II. Korean Participants: much less extreme inferences when assigned to choice v. no choice condition

Actor Observer Bias (AOB) (attribution for own and other’s behavior)

a. tendency to attribute other’s behavior to dispositional factors

b. tendency to attribute own behavior to situational factors

Actor from AOB

attention focused on the situation, hence focus on situational factors

Observor AOB

attention focuses on the individual hence focus on dispositional factors

Self-Serving Attribution Bias

1. When we succeed: tendency to attribute our successes to internal traits and talents

2. When we fail: tendency to attribute our failures to external factors beyond our control

Self Serving Bias Example

Lau & Russell (1980)

Why does Self Serving Bias occur?

Helps protect our self-esteem

a. Attributing success to personal traits → provides us with boost in confidence (Self-Enhancing Bias for success)

b. Attributing failures to situational factors → helps absolve us from personal responsibility (Self-protecting bias for failure)

Hindsight Bias

a, tendency to believe, after learning an outcome, that one could have foreseen it all along

b. tendency to assume one knew all along that given outcome was likely

Hindsight Bias study (Choi & Nisbett (2000))

read story about seminary student who passed man that needed help → predict what happened → told student either helped/did not help, predict outcome and id they were successful

Hindsight Bias with American and Korean participants

False Consensus Effect

tendency to overestimate how much others agree with our beliefs, attitudes, values, and behavior

a. can lead people to overvalue the correctness of their own opinions

Availability Heuristic

when estimating commonality: tend to defer to examples that come to mind most easily/quickly

a. our opinions more accessible/salient

b. people we spend most time with have very similar beliefs and attitudes (family/friends)

Self Esteem

believing the majority of others are similar to use allows us to feel and maintain a positive self image

a. avoids feeling of deviancy

Ross et al. (1977)