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Psychology - Addictive Behaviours > Cognitive Biases > Flashcards

Cognitive Biases Flashcards

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1
Q

Cognitive biases are concerned with what?

A
  • How we THINK about behaviour.
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2
Q

If we were rational, we wouldn’t become addicted. Why?

A
  • The costs (financial outgoings, effects on relationships) outweigh the benefits (pleasure experienced).
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3
Q

Definite cognitive biases.

A
  • Errors in thinking.
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4
Q

What do cognitive biases explain?

A
  • Why humans initiate and continue with damaging behaviours.
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5
Q

What did Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky (1973) find?

heuristics and cognitive biases

A
  • Humans have a particular way if decision-making and making judgements of probabilities.
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6
Q

When making decisions/judgements, we make mental shortcuts. What are these?
(heuristics and cognitive biases)

A
  • Heuristics.
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7
Q

What are heuristics and why are they useful?

A
  • Mental shortcuts.
  • Don’t always have time/resources to compare info before making a choice.
  • Heuristics are useful because they help reach a decision quickly and efficiently.
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8
Q

Heuristics can be disadvantageous. Why?

A
  • They can lead to deviation from the logical decision that should have been made, and can lead to cognitive biases.
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9
Q

There are 2 heuristics used to explain problem gambling. Name them.

A
  • Representativeness.

- Availability.

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10
Q

If a heuristic is selected on the wrong occasion it can cause problems. Give an example.
(applying to gambling)

A
  • Gambler may continue to gamble even when losing.
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11
Q

Define reprasentativeness.

A
  • The individual estimates the likelihood of an event by comparing it to an existing prototype within the mind.
  • Protoype = what we think is most relevant or typical of an event/object.
  • Make more errors in decision making and oberestimate the likelihood of something occurring.
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12
Q

Just because an event/object is representative, doesn’t mean it’s (blank) to occur.

A
  • More likely.
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13
Q

Representativeness = tendency to judge (blank) or (blank) of an event by the extent to which it resembles the typical course.

A
  • Frequency.

- Likehlihood.

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14
Q

Give an example of representativeness.

A
  • 1) 10 coin tosses; most judge HHTTHTHTTH as more likely to occur than HHHHHHHHHH as the first series looks more random and so ‘represents’ the idea of a random series, when in reality both are equally likely.
  • 2) Random sequence; 20 coin tosses - suggest ratio should be 50/50 when in reality it may take more throws to reach that pattern.
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15
Q

Gamblers Fallacy is a problem regarding heuristics. What is this?

A
  • Something happens more frequently as normal they judge it as happening less frequently in the future.
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16
Q

Give an example of Gambler’s Fallacy.

A
  • Monte Carlo (1913): roulette wheel showed run of black 26 times in a row.
  • Gamblers believed red was ‘due’ so there was a rush to bet on red and money was lost.
  • Problem gamblers adopt thinking pattern that that something is ‘due’ a win and that they can predict the outcome of the next bet.
17
Q

Define availability.

A
  • An event is more likely if it’s easier to recall from memory.
  • Decision-making is based on the frequency of hearing about something and how available info is rather than the actual probability.
18
Q

Give an example of availability.

A
  • Overestimate frequency of cause of death if they’ve experienced it or it’s commonly reported in the media.
19
Q

In terms of availability, how can gambling be a problem?

A
  • Gamblers are encouraged to engage/continue with the behaviour under the mistaken belief that they’re likely to win.
  • Media reports about big wins makes it seem more likely.
  • Casinos: slot machines = close together meaning you hear the coins rolling out and think it’s more likely that the same thing will happen to you.
20
Q

Give some other examples of the availability heuristic.

A
  • Multiple reports about car thefts = Make judgement that vehicle theft in area is more common than reality.
  • Reports of job loss = danger of being layed-off = awake at night and worrying.
  • TV programmes about shark attacks = think it’s relatively common. Holiday = no swimming as believe probability of attack is high.
  • Article on lottery winners = overestimate own likelihood of winning and so spend more on tickets.
21
Q

Illusion of Control is an example of cognitive biases in gamblers. Define this.

A
  • Falsely believe that if they can control aspects of the process, their chances of success will be improved.
22
Q

Give an example of the Illusion of Control in gamblers.

A
  • They might win if they choose a particular seat at a roulette table, or throw a dice in a particular way.
23
Q

Hindsight Bias is an example of cognitive biases in gambling. Define this.

A
  • Claim to not be surprised by the outcome; could have predicted it
  • Helps maintain the belief that if skills are improved, they’ll win more consistently.
24
Q

Self-serving bias is an example of cognitive biases in gambling. Define this.

A
  • The tendency to attribute wins to internal causes, such as their own skill, and losses to external factors such as bad luck l.
  • They feel like losses aren’t their fault and so continue to gamble.
25
Q

Attentional Bias is an example of cognitive biases in gamblers. Define this.

A
  • When an addict is paying attention to certain stimuli and ignoring others in environment.
26
Q

What did Weinstein and Cox (2006) find in terms of the attentional bias?

A
  • Bias plays important role in developments and maintenance of addictive behaviours.
  • Bias increases the motivation to engage in the behaviour in the first place.
  • Addict pays more attention to stimuli relating to the addiction, exacerbating the problem.
27
Q

Give an example of the attentional bias.

A
  • Smoking is strongly influenced by environmental cues relating to addictition e.g. smell or advertisements.
28
Q

What is the test used to investigate the Attentional Bias?

A
  • The Stroop Test.
29
Q

What is the Stroop Test?

A
  • Shown series of words printed in a colour different to the word.
  • Must name the colour not the word.
  • Adaption: emotionally neutral words (e.g. ‘change’ / ‘song’) or words linking to addiction (e.g. ‘coke’/ ‘uppers’).
  • Longer to name the colour the addiction words are written in shows that attention is taken up the the word itself, and example of cognitive biases.
30
Q

Bjorn Johnsen at am (1997) compared active smokers, abstinent smokers and non-smokers in their responses to an addiction Stroop Test. What did they find?

A
  • Smokers had a longer reaction time than the other 2 groups suggesting support for the role of the attentional bias.

Psychology - Addictive Behaviours (12 decks)

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