Ch 10-12

Question 1

How many words can be produced per second in normal speech? How many in a day? What kinds of information are required to produce words? Describe the research question that involves how different types of word information are retrieved and assembled.

Answer 1

about three words each second;~16,000 words

Some researchers argue that speakers retrieve grammatical, semantic, and phonological information of a word at the same time (Damian & Martin, 1999; Saffran & Schwartz, 2003). According to this approach, for example, you look at an apple and simultaneously access the grammatical properties of apple, the meaning of apple, and the phonemes in the word apple.

Evidence for the “independent access” perspective These results suggest that we do not acquire all the different kinds of information at exactly the same moment. Instead, we literally use split-second timing. Given the complexity associated with scientifically investigating language production, however, no clear answers to these types of debates currently exist.

Question 2

Describe the three types of speech errors known as slips-of-the-tongue. Provide original examples of each.
Briefly describe Dell’s explanation of speech errors.

Answer 2

Slips-of-the-tongue are errors in which sounds or entire words are rearranged between two or more different words: Sound errors
Morpheme errors, which occur when morphemes (the smallest meaningful units in language, such as -ly or in-) are exchanged in nearby words—for example, self-destruct instruction → self-instruct destruction.
Word errors, which occur when words are exchanged—for example, writing a letter to my mother → writing a mother to my letter
we are likely to create a word (e.g., leading), rather than a nonword & we seldom create a word that begins with an unlikely letter sequence; In almost all cases, the errors occur across items from the same category

words we are currently pronouncing are influenced by both the words we have already spoken and the words we are planning to speak (Dell, Burger, & Svec, 1997).Usually, we utter the sounds that are most highly activated, and usually these sounds are the appropriate ones. However, each sound can be activated by several different words some not the correct ones.

Question 3

What are the three stages of sentence production?
Define “prosody.”
Define “narrative.” What are the three types of gestures, and how are they used in the production of words?
What is embodied cognition?

Answer 3

During the first stage, often referred to as message planning, we mentally plan the gist, or the overall meaning of the message we intend to generate. In other words, we begin by producing speech in a top-down fashion
Grammatical encoding: choosing word, grammatical form, morphology and words order
In the third stage, often referred to as phonological encoding, we convert the units of the planned utterance into a sound code, and this information is used in order to generate the correct movements of the mouth and vocal tract during the speaking act

the prosody of an utterance, or the “melody” of its intonation, rhythm, and emphasis (Keating, 2006; Plack, 2005; Speer & Blodgett, 2006; Watson & Gibson, 2004). A speaker can use prosody to clarify an ambiguous message

One category of discourse, or language units that are larger than a sentence is the narrative, the type of discourse in which someone describes a series of actual or fictional events.

Types of gestures/ embodied cognition(The proposal that people often use their own bodies and motor actions in order to express their abstract thoughts and knowledge)

(1) Iconic gestures are gestures with a form that represents the concept about which a speaker is talking. For example, a speaker telling her friend about a car crash that she witnessed on the way to work might vigorously push her left and right fists together as she explains the impact.
2) Deictic gestures involve pointing to some object or location while speaking, and are often accompanied by words such as “This” or “That.” Notice
(3) Beat gestures, on the other hand, are gestures that occur in a rhythm that matches the speech rate and prosodic content of speech. These gestures do not convey specific information to a listener, but may be made by a speaker to help that speaker maintain a current speech pattern.

word, a gesture can sometimes help activate the relevant information (Brown, 2012).Gestures can also facilitate learning

Question 4

Define “pragmatics.” Explain why the study of pragmatics is so important. Describe the following research areas, and explain how they are related to pragmatics:

common ground

directives

framing

Answer 4

Pragmatics focuses on the social rules and world knowledge that allow speakers to successfully communicate messages to other people (De Groot, 2011; Degen & Tanenhaus, 2014; Flores Salgado, 2011; Goldenberg & Coleman, 2010; Holtgraves, 2010). Two important topics in the research on pragmatics are common ground and an understanding of directives. We also consider a concept called framing, which examines why we sometimes have trouble communicating with people who have different perspectives.

Common ground occurs when conversationalists share the similar background knowledge, schemas, and perspectives that are necessary for mutual understanding; Additional research confirms that people who work together collaboratively can quickly and efficiently develop common ground

A directive is a sentence that asks someone to do something (direct/indirect)
Framing: frame is our mental structure used to simplify reality (individual differences)

Question 5

Summarize the research on writing.
What are the cognitive components used in writing?
What is prewriting?
Do Demonstration 10.5. What does this demonstration reveal about producing sentences?
What is the revision phase of writing?

Answer 5

Most adults write fairly often;You are more likely to write in isolation. This observation does not mean, however, that there isn’t a social component to writing. Many times, you write with the goal of communicating a message, thought, or idea to someone else, and you are likely to tailor the form and content of a written message to your intended audience (or, the person who will be reading what you wrote). Writing also takes more time, especially because writing uses more complex syntax. In addition, people revise their writing far more often than their talking (Biber & Vásquez, 2008; Harley, 2001; Treiman et al., 2003).
Writing and speaking also differ in other ways. When you speak, you are more likely to refer to yourself. When speaking, you also interact more with your listeners, and you have a better opportunity to establish common ground with them (Chafe & Danielewicz, 1987; Gibbs, 1998; Harley, 2008). Writing consists of three phases: planning, sentence generation, and revising (Mayer, 2004). However—like the similar stages we discussed in connection with spoken language—these tasks often overlap in time

Question 6

Define “bilingual.” What is the difference between simultaneous bilingualism and sequential bilingualism? What are the important facts about bilingualism?
Describe the social context of bilingualism and the strengths and weaknesses of bilingualism.

Answer 6

A bilingual speaker is someone who is fluent in two different languages (Harley, 2008; Schwartz & Kroll, 2006). The related term multilingual speaker refers to someone who speaks more than two languages.

Some bilinguals learn two languages simultaneously during childhood, an arrangement called simultaneous bilingualism. Other bilinguals experience sequential bilingualism; their native language is referred to as their first language, and the nonnative language that they acquire is their second language

social context 
educational system 
cultural repression 
Judgment and discrimination
political bias

Strengths: Bilinguals acquire more expertise in their native (first) language ;aware that the names assigned to concepts are arbitrary (metalinguistics) ; Bilinguals perform better on concept-formation tasks and on tests of nonverbal intelligence that require reorganization of visual patterns ;Bilingual children are better at following complicated instructions and performing tasks where the instructions change from one trial to the next; Bilinguals excel at paying selective attention; more sensitive to some pragmatic aspects of language; later onset of dementia

The disadvantages of being bilingual are relatively minor. People who use two languages extensively may subtly alter how they pronounce some speech sounds in both languages (Gollan et al., 2005). Bilingual individuals may also process language slightly more slowly, in comparison to monolinguals. Furthermore, bilingual children may have somewhat smaller vocabularies for words that are used in a home setting

Question 7

Describe the literature on second language proficiency as a function of age of acquisition.

Answer 7

age of acquisition refers to the age at which you learned a second language.
Several studies report that adults and children are equally skilled in learning words in their new language
those who acquire a second language during adulthood are more likely to have a foreign accent when they speak their new language
once we control for years of education in the United States, age of acquisition is not related to an individual’s mastery of English grammar not related but might be effected if the 2 languages are different

Question 8

What is problem solving? Identify the three features of a problem, and provide several original examples.
Define “understanding” as it relates to problem solving.
Describe why attentional processes are important in problem-solving tasks.

Answer 8

The term problem solving refers to the processes necessary to reach a goal, typically in situations where the solution is not immediately obvious. Although the nature of these problems may differ, every problem includes three components: (1) the initial state, (2) the goal state, and (3) the obstacles
In problem-solving research, the term understanding means that you have constructed a well-organized mental representation of the problem based on both the information provided in the problem and your own previous experience

Understanding in PS research refers to the construction of an organized mental representation of the problem based on factual information and relevant personal experience. PS requires judging which information is most relevant to the problem and relies on other cognitive functions such as attention (suppressing competing thoughts), memory (recall and retrieval of similar situations), and decision making (consider possible acts and likely outcomes). There are several topics related to understanding:

(1) method of representation - The way the different parts are translated
(2) situated cognition (context)
(3) embodied cognition ( how our own bodies help understand the problem).
(4) Attention- focusing on the appropriate part

Question 9

Describe the following methods of representing problems and the issues associated with each:

symbols

matrices

diagrams

visual images

Answer 9

Symbols refer to turning part of the problem (for example the goal as on algebra equations) into a symbol (2x=y+10). A common error of using symbols is accidentally reversing the roles of the symbols (2y=x+10). Another common mistake is misremembering relational statements resulting from an oversimplification of the sentence

Matrices: A matrix is a grid consistent of rows and columns representing possible combinations of items. Especially helpful for complex problems containing categorical information. use the appropriate labels for a matrix

Diagrams are useful to represent abstract information such as instruction to assemble something or large amounts of information in a useful and concise way. Hierarchical tree diagram - Show various relationships and options between categorized items. Diagrams help “clear” space in working memory, they are easy to master and focus on the most relevant information.

The use of visual imagery that is useful when a resolution requires going out of the boundaries of traditional representations or when we are required to construct a figure.

Question 10

What is the situated-cognition approach? Provide an original example of it. How is the situated cognitive approach different from the traditional approach to problem solving? How is the approach related to the concept of ecological validity? What is embodied cognition, and why is it important?

Answer 10

The situated cognition approach argues that our ability to solve a problem is tied into the specific physical and social context in which we learned to solve that problem.

The traditional cognitive approach to thinking emphasizes the processes that take place inside an individual person’s head. The
situated cognition approach argues that the traditional cognitive approach is too simplistic. The situated cognition perspective also suggests that college students can learn especially effectively during internships and other practical

High ecological validity : In real life, for example, we interact with other people who provide information and help us clarify our cognitive processes

Embodied cognition: we solve certain kinds of problems more quickly or more accurately if we are allowed to move parts of our body. The motor representation of words or thought process proved in research to prompt better recall( tip of the tongue), helpful in creating making spatial representations / mental maps and instructing other people when working on a physical object.

Question 11

Define “algorithm” and “heuristic,” and explain how they differ from each other.
What is the exhaustive search method?
Describe the analogy approach. Your description must include the definitions of problem isomorphs, surface features, and structural features.
What encourages the use of analogies?

Answer 11

“Algorithm” and “heuristic’’ describe problem solving methods. “Algorithm” always produces a solution but the process may be inefficient and unsophisticated as it is time consuming and produces too many possibilities to explore. A heuristic is a general rule that is usually correct and used as a benchmark to ignore some alternatives and explore only those most likely based on the similarity to the heuristic (for example: searching for only pronounceable words within a string of letters) . Heuristic does not necessarily produce a correct solution and is likely to miss possible viable solutions . According to research, we are more likely to succeed in everyday PS by using heuristics compared to algorithm.

Exhaustive search method? Is an example of the Algorithm method, in which possible answers are being called within a specific system (for example by alphabetical order).

the analogy approach in problem solving refers to employing a solution based on a similar, earlier problem. “problem isomorphs” : the set of problems that have the same underlying structures and solutions, but different specific details.Efficient use of analogies requires having both problem solving skills and a developed metacognition. Analogies develop understanding and ability to recognize underlying structures that make it easy to transfer knowledge across different contexts and domains.

Question 12

Describe the means-end heuristic, and provide an original example of its use.
Briefly summarize the research on the means-end heuristic, especially as it relates to Demonstration 11.5 ( the elves and the goblins) Describe the computer simulation known as GPS. Explain how GPS is related to the means-end heuristic.

Answer 12

The means-end heuristic is a PS approach that focuses on dividing the problem into smaller units (subproblems). After dividing the problem, each unit is then assigned a desired goal and possible means to achieve it that will prompt a resolution of the whole problem (what methods are needed in order to get to the final result).
Working memory is especially active when people are planning one of these movement sequences
Sometimes the correct solution to a problem requires you to move backward, temporarily increasing the difference between the initial state and the goal state. Research confirms that people are reluctant to move away from the goal state

In 1972, Newell and Simon developed a now-classic computer simulation called General Problem Solver. General Problem Solver (GPS) is a program whose basic strategy is means-ends analysis. he GPS was the first program to simulate a variety of human symbolic behaviors. More recently, John Anderson and his colleagues have designed and tested many computer simulations for solving problems similar to the Elves-and-Goblins one, as well as problems in algebra, geometry, and computer science. The GPS was discarded as it could not be applied to real-life less clear cut situations. These projects are related to Anderson’s ACT-R theory,

Question 13

Describe the hill-climbing heuristic. Provide an original example.
Outline its strengths and weaknesses.

Answer 13

The hill climbing heuristic refers to the tendency to choose the option that seems most directly leading us closer to our path when confronted with two choices
The hill climbing heuristic refers to the tendency to choose the option that seems most directly leading us closer to our path when confronted with two choices. For example, when walking in downtown Toronto, even without the GPS you can navigate towards the waterfront easily by choosing the path that gets you closer to the CN tower. .The strengths of the heuristic lies in its ability to generate a possible right solution when very little factual information is available and alternatives are limited or too ambiguous. The downside is that we are less likely to choose indirect paths that may have implications later on.

Question 14

Describe how someone becomes an expert within a domain. Explain how expertise is related to top-down processing. Describe how experts differ from novices.

Answer 14

Experts high performance in their field discipline may be related to a superior long-term memory for the discipline specific knowledge combined with detailed structure of their concepts
People with expertise use top-down processing effectively when they solve problems—that is, they take advantage of factors such as their knowledge, memory, and strategies. In contrast, both mental set and functional fixedness can interfere when we try to solve a problem; both these factors rely too heavily on top-down processing. Stereotypes—such as stereotypes about gender—may also encourage people to rely on overactive top-down processing, leading to poor problem-solving performance. Finally, if the problem requires insight, we must also overcome overactive top-down processing in order to approach the problem from an unfamiliar perspective.

Experts and novices differ substantially in their knowledge base and schemas. Experts may solve problems especially well if they have had training in a variety of relevant settings, and if the training includes immediate detailed feedback. Experts differ from novices with respect to their memory for information related to their area of expertise or if fits to a particular schema. When experts encounter a novel problem in their area of expertise, they are more likely than novices to use the means-ends heuristic effectively . They are also more likely to approach a problem systematically, whereas novices are more likely to have a haphazard approach
experts are more likely to emphasize the structural similarity between problems. In contrast, novices are more likely to be distracted by surface similarities (use of analog approach)

On some tasks, experts may solve problems faster because they use parallel rather than serial processing

Question 15

Define “mental set.” Summarize the research on mental sets. How are mental sets related to mindsets?
Define “functional fixedness.” Provide an original example in which you overcame functional fixedness.
How are functional fixedness and mental set related?

Answer 15

Mental set is the tendency to keep using the same solutions used previously despite having easier alternatives. Mental sets represent overactive top-down processing and are related to a concept called “fixed mindset” (Carol Dweck ,2006). A fixed mindset is when a person is convinced that based on their existing knowledge and perceived skills they are only able to perform or not perform certain tasks

Functional fixedness describes the tendency to assign fixed functions to an object and fail to consider how its features might make it suitable for other purposes. EXAMPLE: When I lived by myself for the first time I forgot to get a can opener that I really needed at the moment. Eventually I opened the can using a screwdriver and a hammer

Both rigid over functional top down processing and relying on schemas & automatic responses

Question 16

Define “gender stereotype.” Describe stereotype threat, and summarize the research findings that illustrate this phenomenon. What are the two factors that help to explain this effect?

Answer 16

Gender stereotypes are the assumptions we apply to a person based on their sex. A typical gender stereotype is that men are more skilled than women in solving mathematics problems
stereotype threat refers to how being an active awareness of a person to being a member of a negatively stereotyped group have a negative effect on the performance of that individual in a related task
Contributing factors: One factor is that stereotype threat can produce high arousal that interferes with working memory function. Anxiety causes a reduced function .A second factor is that females who are taking a difficult math test may work hard to suppress the thought that they are supposed to perform poorly ( As we pointed out in Chapter 3, thought suppression requires great effort, which reduces the capacity of working memory even further.)

Question 17

Describe insight problems and non-insight problems. Explain how they differ in terms of top-down processing and metacognition. What do these differences suggest about improving problem solving?

Answer 17

The problem-solving situation in which a problem initially seems impossible to solve, but then an alternative approach suddenly bursts into consciousness. The problem solver immediately realizes that the new solution is correct. If top-down processing inappropriately dominated your thinking, and you were considering the wrong set of alternatives it blocked the reslution. Once released from the mental set it gave room to insight ;when people work on insight problems, they experience a sudden leap in confidence when they are close to a correct solution a sudden burst of confidence

noninsight problem
A problem that a person solves gradually, by using memory, reasoning skills, and a routine set of strategies. typically do benefit from top-down processing ; people’s confidence builds gradually for problems that do not require insight

The potential difference between noninsight problems and insight problems suggests some strategies. You might begin to solve a problem by contemplating whether you have had previous experience with similar problems. Top-down processing will be especially useful when you approach a noninsight problem. From time to time, however, you should also consider whether the problem might require insight. You’ll need a different approach to solve an insight problem, because there are no clear rules for these problems (Chi, 2006). You might try to represent the problem in a different way or think about a different meaning for an ambiguous word; An insight problem forces you to search for the answer “outside the box” by abandoning your customary top-down assumptions and looking for novel solutions.

Question 18

Define “creativity.” How is creativity related to problem solving?
Describe Guilford’s divergent production approach.
Describe the three observations listed by Matlin and Farmer on the nature of creativity.

Answer 18

Creativity as related to problem solving, refers to the ability to produce a number of viable solutions that are both useful and original.

According to the divergent production approach, the number of different ideas generated by a problem solver demonstrates the ability to overcome functional fixedness and correlate with high test results. However, the number of solutions is not necessarily the best way to measure creativity.

Creativity includes both convergent (producing a single response) and divergent (producing multiple responses) styles of thinking
Creativity activates multiple brain areas and structures in both hemispheres of the brain
Both conscious/ deliberate attention and unconscious attention can produce creativity

Question 19

Define “intrinsic motivation” and “extrinsic motivation.” Summarize the research on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as they relate to creativity. What do the findings suggest about how to encourage creativity?

Answer 19

Define “intrinsic motivation” Refers to an inner source for motivation usually based on interest/ passion, personal challenge or other internal gratification.
Define “extrinsic motivation.” Refers to an outside source for motivation usually in the form of a reward or expected earning
Summarize the research on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as they relate to creativity. According to research high levels of extrinsic motivation correlate with decreased creativity compared to situations that involve higher intrinsic motivation.

In a study by Prabhu and colleagues (2008) intrinsic motivation combined with certain personality traits such as self-efficacy highly correlated with creativity whereas persistence was not correlated with creativity. The downside of the findings is they were based on self-reports and may not reflect the actual creativity level of the participants.
What do the findings suggest about how to encourage creativity? We do know that people are more likely to be creative when they are working on a task that they truly enjoy

Question 20

Define “deductive reasoning” and “decision making.” How are they different? Describe “conditional reasoning” (or “propositional reasoning”). Provide an original example of conditional reasoning. Define “syllogism,” and provide an example. How are syllogisms different from conditional reasoning problems?

Answer 20

eductive reasoning is a type of thinking that relies on several assumptions that are considered to be “true”. Those assumptions provide the foundation for the process of considering and making further judgments or conclusions based on formal logic. Decision making is a type of thinking that involves assessing and evaluating alternatives in order to choose the appropriate one. The main difference is that decision making requires comparing and evaluating given information whereas deductive reasoning requires formulating a series of conclusions to reach a decisionIn decision making unlike deductive reasoning, some information may be missing or contradictory. The decision making process does not always have an established set of rules on how to come to a conclusion.The uncertainty of decision making both in the process and the result is more common than the certainty of deductive reasoning. In addition, emotional factors frequently influence our everyday decision making

Conditional reasoning is the most common deductive reasoning task and describes the relationships between conditions that together “lead” to a specific deduction. For example one common form is the “if.. then” reasoning :

Syllogism is another form of deductive reasoning task that consists of two statements and a conclusion. The statements assumed to be true and refer to quantities by including terms such as: all,none,some,etc. In a syllogism the conclusion may be valid, invalid or indeterminate : ome psychology majors are friendly people.
Some friendly people are concerned about poverty.
Therefore, some psychology majors are concerned about poverty.Notice that your everyday experience tempts you to conclude, “Yes, the conclusion is valid.” After all, you know many psychology majors who are concerned about poverty. Many people would automatically respond, “valid conclusion.” In contrast, with a little more explicit thinking, you’ll reexamine that syllogism and realize that the strict rules of deductive reasoning require you to respond, “The conclusion is indeterminate

Question 21

Define the “propositional calculus.” Given the statement, “If it is sunny, then it must be hot,” specify the following types of conditional reasoning situations.

affirming the antecedent

affirming the consequent

denying the antecedent

denying the consequent

Which of the above will lead to a valid conclusion, and of those two, which is the most difficult to solve?
What is dual process theory?

Answer 21

a system for categorizing the four kinds of reasoning used in analyzing statements that are made up of antecedents and consequents. When working on a conditional reasoning task, a person can perform two possible actions: (1) affirm part of the sentence, saying that it is true; or (2) deny part of the sentence, saying that it is false.
Affirming the antecedent - the if part is true- conclusion valid
Affirming the consequent- the “then” part is valid- invalid conclusion(error)
denying the antecedent- the “if” part is false- invalid conclusion(error)
denying the consequent -the “then” part is true- conclusion valid

affirming the antecedent- it is sunny. Therefore it must be hot. ( valid)
affirming the consequent- It is hot. Therefore it is sunny. (invalid)
denying the antecedent- It is not sunny. Therefore it is not hot. (invalid)
denying the consequent -It is not hot. Therefore it is not sunny. (valid)

According to the dual process theory people use two types of cognitive processing: Type1 the automatic processing that is used for depth perception, recognizing facial expressions and stereotyping. Type 2 processing is a little slower and more controlled, involves focused attention and usually more accurate. Both types of processing are used when people perform conditional reasoning (theme 4 - cognitive processes are interrelated: conditional reasoning requires working memory, general knowledge, mental imagery and language skills).

Question 22

Describe the two factors that affect error rates in conditional reasoning tasks, and provide examples. Describe the belief bias effect, provide an example of it, and explain how it is related to top-down processing.

Answer 22

Conditional tasks that include negative words are harder to solve and most likely to be resolved wrongly (theme 3 people can handle positive information better than negative information)
Conditional tasks that include abstract items are harder to solve and most likely to be resolved wrongly

he belief-bias effect occurs in reasoning when people make judgments based on prior beliefs and general knowledge, rather than on the rules of logic.- over relying on top down processing. When we see a conclusion in a reasoning task that looks correct in the “real world,” we may not pay attention to the reasoning process that generated this conclusion

Question 23

Describe the standard Wason selection task. Explain how it is related to conditional reasoning.
What is the confirmation bias? How do people show evidence of such a bias on the Wason task?
How is performance affected if the abstract information is replaced with concrete information? Provide your own examples of the confirmation bias.

Answer 23

The standard Wason selection task presents people with four cards marked with a letter on one side and a number on the other side. Participants are then told that any card with a vowel has an even number on its turned down side. Results demonstrated that most people will work to affirm the rule instead of disproving it, hence demonstrating “confirmation bias”

In most of the recent research on the Wason Task, psychologists focus on versions in which the numbers and letters on the cards are replaced by concrete situations that we encounter in our everyday lives. As you might guess, people perform much better when the task is concrete, familiar, and realistic (Evans, 2011; Mercier & Sperber, 2011).For example, Griggs and Cox (1982) tested college students in Florida using a variation of the selection task. This task focused on the drinking age, which was then 19 in the state of Florida. Specifically, the students were asked to test this rule: “If a person is drinking beer, then the person must be over 19 years of age” (p. 415). Each participant was instructed to choose two cards to turn over—out of four—in order to test whether people were lying about their age.

Griggs and Cox (1982) found that 73% of the students who tried the drinking age problem made the correct selections, in contrast to 0% of the students who tried the standard, abstract form of the selection task.

Several studies point out that the confirmation bias can be applied in medical situations. For example, researchers have studied people who seek medical advice for insomnia (Harvey & Tang, 2012). As it happens, when people believe that they have insomnia, they overestimate how long it takes them to fall asleep. They also underestimate the amount of time they spend sleeping at night. One explanation for these data is that people seek confirming evidence that they are indeed “bad sleepers,” and they provide estimates that are consistent with this diagnosis.

Question 24

What are decision-making heuristics?
Describe the representativeness heuristic. Provide an original example of it. Explain the relationship between the representativeness heuristic and prototypes.

How is the representativeness heuristic used in everyday decision making? type 1 processing; prototypes; schemas

Answer 24

Decision-making heuristics are general strategies that simplify and fasten the decision making process by reducing the difficulty to make a decision usually by relying on Type 1 processing.

Representativeness heuristic refers to the tendency to assume a random looking outcome is more likely hence more representative. Example: Assuming that a cube toss is more likely to generate the random sequence 5335533 then 333555 as the first sequence seems more random. This heuristic is so persuasive that people often ignore important statistical information (sample size and base rate) and fail to consider the probability of two combined characteristics.

Question 25

Why is sample size important? What is meant by the small-sample fallacy?
How are these concepts related to the representativeness heuristic?
What is the base rate? Describe the base rate fallacy, and provide an original example of it. How is it related to the representativeness heuristic?

Answer 25

Sample size refers to the quantity of objects/items forming the sample . A large sample is statistically more likely to reflect the true proportions in a population. In contrast, a small sample will often reveal an extreme proportion(small sample size fallacy may lead to inappropriate stereotyping as it assumes that the small sample is representative) . The representativeness heuristic often causes us to ignore sample size and therefore reach the wrong conclusions as the small sample is not representative.
In decision making, the assumption that a small sample will be representative of the population from which it is selected. This assumption often leads to incorrect decisions.

Base rate is how often the item occurs in the population and used to indicate probability especially if other information is missing. People often ignore base rate (how frequent an item is) if the representativeness is very high, thus supporting the dual processing theory ( Type 1 processing of the representativeness heuristic).

Question 26

Define “conjunction rule” and “conjunction fallacy.” Provide an original example of the conjunction fallacy.
How is the conjunction fallacy related to the representativeness heuristic?

Answer 26

According to the conjunction rule, the probability of the conjunction of two events cannot be larger than the probability of either of its constituent events
When people commit the conjunction fallacy, they judge the probability of the conjunction of two events to be greater than the probability of either constituent event because of strong representativeness

Question 27

Define “availability heuristic.” Provide an original example how it is used in everyday decision making. Describe the role of recency and familiarity in the use of the availability heuristic.
Define “illusory correlation.” Provide original examples of it. Describe how the availability heuristic can be used to explain illusory correlations.

Answer 27

The availability heuristic is vastly used in everyday life and usually results in a correct decision. It is usually used to make estimations based on relevant examples stored in memory and easily retrieved. The availability heuristic is generally accurate and correlates with an objective truth. The accuracy of the availability heuristic is influenced by two factors that influence memory :
Recency : Since recent items are better remembered, they are more readily available and therefore may create a bias towards the more recent items than the actual true frequency/probability.
Familiarity: The level of familiarity with items also distorts estimation of frequency/ probability and may create the impression the more familiar items are more prevalent. (Type 1 processing)

The illusory correlation manifests in the false belief that unrelated items have a relationship even though there is no evidence that supports the correlation. The availability of specific information usually results in the tendency to focus on only one piece of information and discard the rest (even contradictory information) thus creating the illusory correlation.

The recognition heuristic typically operates when you must compare the relative frequency of two categories; if you recognize one category, but not the other, you conclude that the recognized category has the higher frequency.

Question 28

Define “anchoring and adjustment heuristic,” and provide an original example of it.
Describe Tversky and Kahneman’s (1982) original research on the anchoring and adjustment heuristic and their findings.
Define “confidence interval.” Explain how the anchoring and adjustment heuristic can account for errors in estimating confidence intervals.

What is the current status of heuristics in decision making?

Answer 28

The “anchoring and adjustment heuristic” refers to the cognitive process of starting with an initial idea or assumption and adjusting it gradually. Since the heuristic relies on a specific core belief, if that belief is false (false anchor) so are the following adjustments and the results. The “anchoring and adjustment heuristic” further supports that people tend to strengthen their existing beliefs rather than challenging them (belief bias effect; confirmation bias; illusory corrolation)
In a classic study, high school students were asked to estimate the answers to these two multiplication problems (Tversky & Kahneman, 1982). The students were allowed only five seconds to respond. both groups anchored too heavily on the initial impression that every number in the problem was only a single digit, because both estimates were far too low

A confidence interval is the range within which you expect the correct answer to fall. Researchers have not developed precise explanations for the anchoring and adjustment heuristic. However, one likely mechanism is that the anchor restricts the search for relevant information in memory. Specifically, people concentrate their search on information relatively close to the anchor, even if this anchor is not a realistic number

The research by Tversky and Kahneman (1974) pointed out how the anchoring and adjustment heuristic is relevant when we make confidence-interval estimates. We first provide a best estimate, and we use this figure as an anchor. Next, we make adjustments upward and downward from this anchor to construct the confidence-interval estimate. However, our adjustments are typically too small.

decision-making heuristics generally serve us well in the real world. Furthermore, we can become more effective decision makers by realizing the limitations of these important strategies (

Question 29

Define “framing effect,” and provide an original example of this effect.
Explain how background information can influence our decisions.
Explain how the wording of a question can influence our decisions.
What is prospect theory? What practical advice is suggested by framing effects?

Answer 29

The framing effect suggests that a decision may be influenced by background context and the way the question is worded (elements that frame the question). The framing effect demonstrates the tendency to not recognize the deep structure of the problem and the extent in which the surface of the problem distracts from it.

framing changes people’s focus and action (take or avoid risk);

prospect theory to refer to people’s tendencies to think that possible gains are different from possible losses. Specifically:
When dealing with possible gains (e.g., lives saved), people tend to avoid risks.
When dealing with possible losses (e.g., lives lost), people tend to seek risks

The research on framing suggests some practical advice: When you are making an important decision, try rewording the description of this decision. For example, suppose that you need to decide whether to accept a particular job offer. Ask yourself how you would feel about having this job, and then ask yourself how you would feel about not having this job. This kind of Type 2 processing can help you make wiser decisions

Question 30

Define “over-confidence.” Give an original example of it.
Summarize the research on over-confidence in political decision making and on completing academic projects on time. Your summaries must include definitions for “crystal-ball technique” and “planning fallacy.”
Identify the five sources of over-confidence.

Answer 30

Overconfidence means that your confidence judgments are higher than they should be based on your actual performance on the task.
We have already discussed two examples of overconfidence in decision making in this chapter. In an illusory correlation, people are confident that two variables are related, when in fact the relationship is either weak or nonexistent. In anchoring and adjustment, people are so confident in their estimation abilities that they supply very narrow confidence intervals for these estimates

over-confidence in political decision making: Researchers have created methods for reducing overconfidence about decisions. For example, the crystal-ball technique asks decision makers to imagine that a completely accurate crystal ball has determined that their favored hypothesis is actually incorrect; the decision makers must therefore search for alternative explanations for the outcome

over-confidence on completing academic projects on time-According to the planning fallacy, people typically underestimate the amount of time (or money) required to complete a project; they also estimate that the task will be relatively easy to complete. One factor is that people create an optimistic scenario that represents the ideal way in which they will make progress on a project. This scenario fails to consider the large number of problems that can arise (Buehler et al., 2002).

People also recall that they completed similar tasks relatively quickly in the past (Roy & Christenfeld, 2007; Roy et al., 2005). In addition, they estimate that they will have more free time in the future, compared to the free time they have right now (Zauberman & Lynch, 2005). In other words, people use the anchoring and adjustment heuristic, and they do not make large enough adjustments to their original scenario, based on other useful information.

my-side bias describes the overconfidence that your own view is correct in a confrontational situation

Question 31

Define “hindsight bias,” and provide an original example of it.
Describe the research by Carli (1999) on the hindsight bias, and discuss her findings. What are the explanations for the hindsight bias?

Answer 31

The hindsight bias occurs when an event has happened, and we say that the event had been inevitable; we had actually “known it all along” . The hindsight bias reflects our overconfidence that we could have accurately predicted a particular outcome at some point in the past.

Linda Carli (1999) asked students to read a two-page story about a young woman named Barbara and her relationship with Jack, a man she had met in graduate school. The story, told from Barbara’s viewpoint, provided background information about Barbara and her growing relationship with Jack. Half of the students read a version that had a tragic ending, in which Jack rapes Barbara. The other half read a version that was identical except that it had a happy ending. After reading the story, each student then completed a true/false memory test. This test examined recall for the facts of the story, but it also included questions about information that had not been mentioned in the story. Some of these questions were consistent with a stereotyped version of a rape scenario, such as, “Barbara met many men at parties.” Other questions were consistent with a marriage-proposal scenario, such as, “Barbara wanted a family very much.” The results of Carli’s (1999) study demonstrated the hindsight bias.

. However, people often search the past for reasons why a victim deserved that outcome. One likely cognitive explanation is that people might use anchoring and adjustment
consistency bias?

Question 32

What are the two decision-making styles, and how are they related to psychological well-being?