Chapter 8, 8-2 and onwards Flashcards
(25 cards)
what do western cultures entail
- tend to have an analytic cognitive lifestyle where they focus on objects and other individual opportunities.
- emphasize interdependence and individualism
- ex: Americans described dish in a scene based on focal objects (eg: a big fish)
what do eastern cultures entail
- tends to have a holistic lifestyle where they focus on context, relationships, and background elements
- emphasize interdependence and group harmony
- ex: japanese participants noticed background details and interactions between elements.
what does psychologist Barry Schwartz argue?
- argues that while having choices is generally positive, having too many can lead to “choice overload” which makes decisions harder, less satisfying, and more likely to result in regret or decision paralysis.
describe simon herbert’s theory of bounded rationality
- herbert simon argued that humans do not have unlimited cognitive resources o make perfectly rational decisions.
- instead, their decision-making abilities are bounded by limitations in:
1. time
2. available resources
3. mental processing capacity
*in other words, people satisfice (settle for a good-enough solution) rather than optimize (finding the best possible solution) especially when decisions are complex or involve uncertainty.
describe the research found on decisions about preferences:
- people can feel overwhelmed by too many options
- decision paralysis and regret often follow from having too many choices
- people are not always systematic or rational in weighing all options. instead, they rely on simplified strategies or personal feelings.
- some people use subjective preferences or knowledge to reduce complexity and make decisions they feel confident about.
availability heuristic
- when you try to judge how likely something is to happen based on how easily you can think of examples.
- can be misleading since just because something is easier to remember, doesn’t mean it happens more often - your memory might be influenced by personal experience or media.
- ex:marsha thinks about majoring in history but remembers 4/5 of her friends who studied history are still looking for work. she thinks hisotry is a bad choice.
representativeness heuristic
- you judge something based on how much it looks like what you think is typical, even if its not logical.
- is misleading because stereotypes or prototypes can override real facts or statistics.
ex: marsha meets a quiet, conservative student at a party. she guesses this person is a biology major, not just a fine arts major since she fits the “science student” stereotype on TV.
base neglect
- ignoring the actual statistics (base rates) about how common something is, and focusing on specific details.
- ex: people think steve is a librarian because of his personality, ignoring that there are 75x more salesman than librarians.
conjunction fallacy
- thinking a specific situation is more likely than a general one which is impossible.
- can be misleading because the chances of 2 things happening at once can never be higher than just of one them happening alone.
ex: marsha meets a woman who seems involved in social justice and is smart. she thinks its more likely the woman is a feminist librarian than just a librarian.
sunk cost fallacy
- people continue with a decision just because they invested time, money, or effort even if it no longer makes sense.
ex: harry pays $1000/year for a gym membership then hurts his elbow. he keeps playing to get his money worth, even if it might make his injury worse.
explain behavioural economics
- a field that combines psychology and economics to study how people actually make decisions (often irrationally)
- traditional economics assume people make rational economic and logical choices to maximize their gains.
- psychologists such as Herbert Simon and Khaneman & Tversky showed that poeple often use simplified mental shortcuts (heuristics) and make biased decisions.
explain simon’s idea of bounded rationality
- we can’t process all information so we make the best decision we want with what we know.
- Kahnem and Tversky’s prospect theory and framing affect show that how choices are presented affects what people choose.
explain the prospect theory
people care more about losses than gains
explain the framing affect
the way a choice is worded or presented affects what people choose.
ex: a doctor tells a patient “the surgery has a 90% survival rate” as opposed to “the surgery has a 10% death rate”. even though they mean the same thing, people are more likely to side with the 90% survival rate.
explain the nature of fast and frugal heuristics
fast and frugal heuristics are simple mental shortcuts people used to make decisions QUICKLY and with LIMITED INFORMATION
- an example of a fast and frugal heuristic is the recognition heuristic where:
1. you recognize one object over the other and you assume its because it holds higher value
ex: when american students choose between unfamiliar german cities, they correctly picked the larger city 75% of the time, simply by going with the one most recognized.
explain the dual-process theories of decision making
dual process theorists suggest that human thinking operates using 2 systems:
1. system 1 (fast thinking)
- automatic, effortless, intuitive, and quick
- used for simple judgements like detecting emotions or solving 2 + 2
- aligned with Gigerenzer’s fast and frugal heuristics
2. system 2 (slow thinking)
- controlled, effortful, logical, and deliberate
- used for complex tasks (ie: doing your taxes)
*according to Daniel Kahneman, while system 1 handles more routine decisions, system 2 monitors and corrects it when more though it needed.
identify the 4 themes identified in this chapter
- Nature vs Nurture
- Emperical basis of psychology
- cultural variability + universality in behaviour
- subjectivity of human behaviour
identify the 5 points to understanding pittfalls in reasonings about decisions
- The Gambler’s Fallacy
- the Law of small numbers
- confirmation bias and belief preservable
- the effects of framing
- loss aversion
The Gambler’s Fallacy - Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman
- the mistaken belief that if something happens more frequently than normal during a given period, it will happen less frequently in the future.
ex: if a coin lands on head 5 times in a row, someone might thing that tails is due next. but each flip is 50/50 and past flips dont affect future ones.
The Law of small numbers - Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman
- the belief that small samples must reflect the properties of the larger population even if they might not.
- ex: if someone meets 3 people from a city who are rude, they might conclude that everyone from that city is rude.
Confirmation bias and belief perserverance - Peter Wason
- confirmation bias: tendency to seek out, interpret, and remember information that confirms existing beliefs, while dismissing or ignoring contradictory evidence.
- belief perserverance: tendency to holf on to a belief even after the evidence used to form it has been discredited
ex: if you belied a certain food is healthy, you might only focus on articles saying its healthy even if it has been scientifically proven that its not.
the effects of framing - Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman
- people’s decisions are influenced by how information is presented (framed) rather than just thte facts themselves.
Loss Aversion - Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman
- people tend to prefer avoiding losses over acquiring gains. the pain of losing is psychologically stronger than the pleasure of gaining.
misconception: in making choices, people like to have lots of options; the more options the better.
Having choices is a good thing; people like to have a variety of options. But recent research on choice overload suggests that’s true only up to a point. An overabundance of options can make decisions difficult and unpleasant, foster decision paralysis (an inability to decide), and lead to post-decision regret.
