Chapter 2: Sources of Information

Question 1

Why do we not base beliefs solely on personal experience?

Answer 1

1. Don’t have a comparison group
2. We don’t often can be sure what caused it (bias information)

Question 2

What it means for research to be probabilistic?

Answer 2

That the findings are not expected to explain all the cases all the time (i.e., there are expectations)
- There are some studies where they are constricting the pattern of the study

Question 3

Ways that Intuition is Biased

Answer 3

1. Being swayed by a good story (Get persuaded by good stories)
2. Being persuaded by what easily comes to mind (whether because it was recent or stood out to you)
3. Failing to think about we cannot see
4. Focus on the evidence we like best
5. Biased about being biased

Question 4

Availability Bias

Answer 4

• Can overestimate the likelihood
• A type of cognitive bias that helps us make fast but sometimes incorrect assessments
• It involves relying on information that comes to mind quickly or is most available to us

Example: If you visited my campus, you might see some women wearing a head covering (hijab) and conclude there are many Muslim women here. The available heuristic could lead you to overestimate, simply because hijabi Muslim women stand out visually. People who practice many other religions do not stand out, so you may underestimate their frequency

Question 5

Present/Present Bias

Answer 5

• When testing relationships, we often fail to look for absences, it is easy to notice what is present
• It reflect our failure to consider appropriate comparison groups
• To avoid the present/present bias, scientists train themselves always to ask: compared to what?

Example: Surgeons may have fallen prey to the present/present bias when they were observing the effects of radical mastectomies on patients. They focused on patients who received the surgery and recovered but did not fully account for those who did not receive or consider other treatments

Question 6

Confirmation Bias

Answer 6

• The tendency to look only at information that agrees with what we want to believe
• “cherry pick” the information we take in - seeking and accepting only the evidence that supports what we already think (and reject information that does not seek for our beliefs)

Question 7

Bias Blind Spot

Answer 7

• Lead us to miss important information
• Failing to notice your own biases
• We all as humans are affected by biases

Question 8

Trusting Authorities on the Subject

Answer 8

Before accepting information, think about how reliable the information is
- Think about where they are getting the information from

Question 9

Intuitive Thinker

Answer 9

• When we think intuitively rather than scientifically, we make mistakes
• Because of our biases, we tend to notice and actively seek information that confirms our ideas
• To counteract biases, adopt the imperial mindset of a researcher

Question 10

Researchers

Answer 10

• Collect data on a comparing groups
• They train themselves to test their intuition with systematic, empirical observations
• Collect potentially disconfirming evidence, not just evidence that confirms their hypothesis