Cognitive Biases Flashcards
Cognitive biases are concerned with what?
- How we THINK about behaviour.
If we were rational, we wouldn’t become addicted. Why?
- The costs (financial outgoings, effects on relationships) outweigh the benefits (pleasure experienced).
Definite cognitive biases.
- Errors in thinking.
What do cognitive biases explain?
- Why humans initiate and continue with damaging behaviours.
What did Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky (1973) find?
heuristics and cognitive biases
- Humans have a particular way if decision-making and making judgements of probabilities.
When making decisions/judgements, we make mental shortcuts. What are these?
(heuristics and cognitive biases)
- Heuristics.
What are heuristics and why are they useful?
- 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.
Heuristics can be disadvantageous. Why?
- They can lead to deviation from the logical decision that should have been made, and can lead to cognitive biases.
There are 2 heuristics used to explain problem gambling. Name them.
- Representativeness.
- Availability.
If a heuristic is selected on the wrong occasion it can cause problems. Give an example.
(applying to gambling)
- Gambler may continue to gamble even when losing.
Define reprasentativeness.
- 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.
Just because an event/object is representative, doesn’t mean it’s (blank) to occur.
- More likely.
Representativeness = tendency to judge (blank) or (blank) of an event by the extent to which it resembles the typical course.
- Frequency.
- Likehlihood.
Give an example of representativeness.
- 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.
Gamblers Fallacy is a problem regarding heuristics. What is this?
- Something happens more frequently as normal they judge it as happening less frequently in the future.
Give an example of Gambler’s Fallacy.
- 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.
Define availability.
- 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.
Give an example of availability.
- Overestimate frequency of cause of death if they’ve experienced it or it’s commonly reported in the media.
In terms of availability, how can gambling be a problem?
- 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.
Give some other examples of the availability heuristic.
- 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.
Illusion of Control is an example of cognitive biases in gamblers. Define this.
- Falsely believe that if they can control aspects of the process, their chances of success will be improved.
Give an example of the Illusion of Control in gamblers.
- They might win if they choose a particular seat at a roulette table, or throw a dice in a particular way.
Hindsight Bias is an example of cognitive biases in gambling. Define this.
- 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.
Self-serving bias is an example of cognitive biases in gambling. Define this.
- 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.
