Reasoning and Decision-Making Flashcards
Probability judgments often deviate from the dictates of probability theory
What are the 2 theories?
1) Heuristics and the biases
2) Ecological rationality
Apparent biases may be rational responses given the ecology of the human decision-maker
This is known as…?
Ecological rationality
Simplifying strategies that reduce effort but are prone to bias/error
This is known as…?
Heuristics and the biases
Are people generally good or bad at working with probability?
Bad
Define Heuristics and Biases
When people base their intuitive probability and frequency judgments on simple, experience-based strategies (“heuristics”) which are right (or good enough) most of the time
But which will sometimes lead to biased or illogical responses
When people base their intuitive probability and frequency judgments on simple, experience-based strategies (“heuristics”) which are right (or good enough) most of the time
But which will sometimes lead to biased or illogical responses
This is known as…?
Heuristics and Biases
What are the 3 types of Heuristics and Biases?
1) Availability
2) Representativeness
3) Anchoring
1) Availability
2) Representativeness
3) Anchoring
Are these part of Ecological rationality or Heuristics and Biases?
Heuristics and Biases
What view falls within a broader view of cognition that posits two systems:
1) A fast, associative, automatic, “System 1”
2) A slower, deliberative “System 2” that uses sequential processing and rule-based operations.
Heuristics and Biases
Heuristics and biases falls within a broader view of cognition that posits two systems
What are they?
1) A fast, associative, automatic, “System 1”
2) A slower, deliberative “System 2” that uses sequential processing and rule-based operations.
Describe the Availability Heuristic
Judgments are based on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind
Simply = If an event happens a lot then it will be easy to think of many past instances, so basing judgments on availability is sensible.
Judgments are based on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind
Simply = If an event happens a lot then it will be easy to think of many past instances, so basing judgments on availability is sensible.
This is known as…?
a. Availability
b. Representativeness
c. Anchoring
a. Availability
Overestimating the chances that a shark will attack you when you swim in the ocean is an example of…?
a. Availability
b. Representativeness
c. Anchoring
a. Availability
When it is easier to bring to mind things that happen frequently
This is known as…?
a. Availability
b. Representativeness
c. Anchoring
a. Availability
What are the 2 ways availability heuristic can entail bias?
- Our experience of past events does not reflect their true frequencies
- Events are easy to recall for some reason other than their frequency of occurrence
- Our experience of past events does not reflect their true frequencies
- Events are easy to recall for some reason other than their frequency of occurrence
These are implications of…?
a. Availability
b. Representativeness
c. Anchoring
a. Availability
Describe the study by Lichtenstein et al. (1978) in estimating causes of death
List 2 points
1) Ps estimate the number of US deaths per year due to 40 causes
2) The causes ranged from very rare (e.g., botulism, with one death per 100 million people) to very common (e.g., stroke: 102 000 deaths per 100 million people)
Describe the results of the study by Lichtenstein et al. (1978) in estimating causes of death
Ps over-estimated rare causes and underestimated common causes
Ps over-estimated rare causes and underestimated common causes of death
Why does this occur?
Because rare events/causes of death gets a lot of attention in media
But common events/causes of death happen too frequently that often, the media does not cover them because it would be too repetitive
Describe the study by Tversky & Kahneman (1973) on the effect of memory
List 3 points
1) Ps listened to list of 39 names including:
19 famous women and 20 less famous men
OR
19 famous men
20 less famous women
2) Some Ps had to write down as many names as they could recall
3) Others were asked whether the list contained more names of men or of women
Describe the results of the study by Tversky & Kahneman (1973) on the effect of memory
List 2 points
1) In the recall task, Ps retrieved more of the famous names (12.3 out of 19) than the non-famous names (8.4 out of 20). That is, famous names were more available.
2) 80 out of 99 (81%) Ps judged the gender category that contained more famous
names to be more frequent.
(e.g., the people given a list of 19 famous men and 20 less famous women reported that there were more men than women in the list)
1) In the recall task, Ps retrieved more of the famous names (12.3 out of 19) than the non-famous names (8.4 out of 20). That is, famous names were more available.
2) 80 out of 99 (81%) Ps judged the gender category that contained more famous
names to be more frequent.
(e.g., the people given a list of 19 famous men and 20 less famous women reported that there were more men than women in the list)
What do these results suggest?
List 2 points
1) It seems that people made their proportion estimates by assessing the ease with which examples of each come to mind
2) When one category was easier to retrieve (via the fame manipulation) it was judged more frequent, even when it was actually experienced less often
When one category was easier to retrieve (via the fame manipulation) it was judged more frequent, even when it was actually experienced less often
This is an example of…?
a. Availability
b. Representativeness
c. Anchoring
a. Availability
When people mistakenly believe that two events happening together is more likely than one of the events happening alone
This is known as…?
Conjunction fallacy