Lecture 7 - Heuristics and Compliance Flashcards
What is the purpose of heuristics in decision-making?
Heuristics help us make efficient decisions in an uncertain world by relying on fast, intuitive (System I) thinking
What is the role of System I in heuristic processing?
- System I is fast, automatic, and emotionally driven
- It helps preserve out existing worldviews but can lead to suboptimal decisions and incorrect inferences
What is the availability heuristic?
The availability heuristic involves judging the likelihood of events based on how easily examples come to mind, often influenced by memory media, and existing beliefs
Give an example of the availability heuristic from Tvensky & Kahneman (1973)
People judged the names of famous people as more frequent due to ease of recall, even when that wasn’t the case, showing how fame increased availability
How does the availability heuristic influence risk elimination? (give research)
Russo & Showmaker (1989) and Lichtenstein et al. (1978) found that people overestimate rare but vivid causes of death (like traffic accidents or fire) and nderestimate cimmon but less dramatic ones (like stomach cancer or TB), based on how often they appear in the media
What did Schwarz et al. (1991) demonstrate about the availability heuristic in self-judgement?
- Participants who were asked to recall 6 assertive behaviours rated themselves more assertive than those asked to recall
- The difficulty of recalling more examples made them feel less assertive
What is the representativeness heuristic?
This involves judging the likelihood of an event based on how well it matches a mental prototype or expectation, often ignoring statistical realities
Describe the Linda problem by Tversky & kahneman (1983) and what it reveals
- Participants were more likely to say Linda was “bank teller and feminist” than just “bank teller”, even though the latter is logically more probable
What is base rate neglect and how is it shown in the engineer example?
- When estimating probabilities, people ignore statistical base rates
- Even when engineers are rare in a company, if a person fits the engineer stereotype (e.g., loves tech, Sudoku), people assume he’s likely an engineer (Kahneman & Tversky, 1973)
How does confirmation bias relate to the representativeness heuristic?
-Instead of testing hypotheses objectively, people seek information that confirms their expectations (Klayman & Ha, 1987)
- This leads to biased judgements, like assuming someone is extroverted after seeing traits that fit the stereotype
What is illusory correlation, and how does it relate to the representativeness heuristic? (include research)
- Illusory correlation refers to seeing a relationship where none exists, often driven by the expectation of a pattern
- For example, seeing a spurious correlation between TV ratings and jet fuel use (season rating of “Two and a Half Men” and jet fuel in Serbia)
What is the Foot-in-the-Door technique and what study supports it?
- Compliance increases if a person first agrees to a small request (more likely to agree to a larger request)
- Freedman & Fraser (1966) found that first agreeing to sign a small driving safety petition made people more likely to accept placing an ugly “Drive safely” sign in their garden (17% vs 55%)
What is the Door-in-the-Face Technique and what study supports it?
- Compliance increases after refusing a large request
- Cialdini et al. (1975) found that students were more likely to agree to chaperone a zoo trip if they had first refused a big commitment (17% vs 50%)
How do heuristics and compliance techniques relate to motivation and identity?
- We are motivated to maintain worldviews and identities
- Heuristics and compliance techniques work by activating these motivations and making certain judgements or behaviours seem consistent with the self
System I is… (short answer)
Fast, intuitive, emotion driven
Availability heuristic is based on… (short answer)
Ease of recall
Representativeness heuristic is based on… (short answer)
Match with prototypr
Who demonstrated the LInda problem?
Tverksy & Kahneman (1983)
Conjunction fallacy occurs when… (short answer)
People judge “A & B” as more likely than “A”
Stomach cancer or traffic accidents more common? (1980s deaths)
- Stomach cancer is more common
- People wrongly thought traffic accidents
Who studied assertiveness recall?
Schwarz et al. (1991)
Base rate neglect is shown in what example (short answer)
Engineer example
Confirmation bias is shown in a study by…
Klayman & Ha (1987)
Illusory correlation is… (short answer)
Seeing a pattern where none exists
