COGNITIVE APPROACH- Schema theory, thinking and decision making, and cognitive biases

Schema Theory

The theory of how humans process incoming information, relating it to existing information.

Schemas

Mental representation based on prior knowledge

What do we use schemas for?

Schemas can assist in recall, guide our behavior, predict likely happenings and help us make sense of our experiences.

However, schemas may also cause us to misinterpret or incorrectly recall information due to biases.

Brewer and Treyens (1981) Aim

To investigate whether people's memory for objects in a room are influenced by existing schemas.

The role of schema in encoding and retrieving episodic memory

Brewer and Treyens (1981) Method

- Uni psych students

- Field experiment

- brought to a room that looked like an office. Had objects that were typical, and some atypical items.

-They were unaware the experiment had started.

- After 35-60 seconds the participant was taken to a nearby room.

- Then they were asked to recall objects in the room they remembered, divided into 3 conditions where they did written recall, drawing recall and verbal descriptions.

Brewer and Treyens (1981) Results

In the writing and drawing condition participants were more likely to remember items that were congruent with their schema of an office.

- The items incongruent with the schema of an office were not commonly recalled.

- when asked to select items on the list, they were more likely to identify incongruent items

- tendency to identify objects that were coherent with the schema but were not actually in the room

Brewer and Treyens (1981) Implications

Brewer and Treyens demonstrate how schemas influence memory recall. This is seen by the recall of objects consistent in an office schema, rather than the items incongruent with within an office schema.

Therefore, this study supports the assumption of schema theory that our previous understanding in a cultural setting influences our memory.

Thinking

The process of using knowledge and information to make plans, interpret the world, and make predictions about the world in general

Decision-making

The process of identifying and choosing alternatives based on the values and preferences of the individual

Dual System Theory

There are two systems of thinking that help us get to conclusions.

System 1: Intuitive, automatic, unconscious, and fast way of thinking. More prone to error

System 2: deliberate, controlled, conscious, and slower way of thinking. Rational mode of thinking and effort required

Anchoring bias

Tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered (the "anchor") when making decisions. During decision-making, anchoring occurs when individuals use an initial piece of information to make subsequent judgments.

Tversky and Kahneman 1 (1974) aim

Investigate the influence of anchoring bias on decision making

Tversky and Kahneman 1 (1974) procedure

- high school sample

- Laboratory experiment

- divided into 2 conditions:

1. Participants in the "ascending condition" were asked to quickly estimate the value of 1 X 2 X 3 X 4 X 5 X 6 X 7 X 8 in five seconds.

2. Those in the "descending condition" were asked to quickly estimate the value of 8 X 7 X 6 X 5 X 4 X 3 X 2 X 1.

Tversky and Kahneman 1 (1974) findings

the median for the ascending group was 512; the median for the descending group was 2250. The actual value is 40320.

Tversky and Kahneman 1 (1974) implications

COGNITIVE BIASES:

the anchoring effect played a role in the estimates of the participants, as the median of the ascending group was much lower than the descending group, meaning they were biased by using the first piece of information to estimate values.

THINKING AND DECISION MAKING:

relates to thinking and decision-making because participants used system one (fast, intuitive) due to the time restrictions to approximate a value for the multiplication.