cold theories and hot theories

Question 1

Cold theories

Answer 1

range effects, misinformation effect, availability heuristic, functional fixedness, self-perception theory

Question 2

hours spent on social media study

Answer 2

showed range effect, 0->2.5 hers a day vs 2.5->4.5 yielded different results

Question 3

Range effects

Answer 3

responses are influenced by the range of responses available (people infer average, like anchoring)
- biases can impact subsequent responses

Question 4

misinformation effect

Answer 4

new info leads to errors in memory
- memory = faulty reconstruction
- E.g. leading questions “How fast were the cars going when they ____ each other?”

Question 5

Availability heuristic

Answer 5

we judge the frequency of something by how easily we can remember examples
- last names
- heuristic = mental shortcut -> create biases

Question 6

functional fixedness

Answer 6

tendency to think in terms of traditional uses for objects - limits create problem solving
- Emma screwdriver is used… to screw, pendulum weight

Question 7

Hot cognition

Answer 7

cognitive dissonance, motivated reasoning, framing effect, confirmation bias

Question 8

cognitive dissonance (CD)

Answer 8

discomfort created by conflict between 2 thoughts, or between a thought and behavior
- we react by adjusting beliefs and behaviors to make ourselves seem consistent

Question 9

insufficient justification

Answer 9

social situation causes our behaviors, but threat/reward is insufficient to make us realize it
- study: boring task, asked to lie and say it was fun (group 1: $1 group 2: $20)
- results: those who were paid $1, began to believe they had fun (had dissonance, unlike $20 group)

Question 10

study on CD

Answer 10

rate 8 items on desirability
- free choice paradigm: make choice between 2 items (high vs low CD)
- results: changed rating after choosing

Question 11

biases are driven by…

Answer 11

both hot and cold processes

Question 12

Cold explanation : self perception theory (SPT)

Answer 12

we judge our own attitudes using the same cognitive processes used to judge other people’s attitudes

Question 13

motivated reasoning neural basis: political study

Answer 13

• participants: right handed males, Republican and Democrats
• contradictory statements rated 1-4
• rated their candidates contradictory statements as significant less contradictory

Question 14

Hot explanation - neural areas had more activity…

Answer 14

Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC): anxiety, negative emotion etc…

Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC): judging value (i.e. emotional value)

Question 15

fMRI studies are consistent with CD theory’s claim that…

Answer 15

that contradictions create a state of discomfort, which then motivates a change in one’s stated attitude or behavior (to appear more consistent))

Question 16

Study: boring taks in fMRI

Answer 16

hot neural regions:
- ACC
- Insula: involved in pain perception, disgust, visceral “gut” feelings

more activation = greater attitude change
- ACC and insult may drive change
- dissonance = state of discomfort

Question 17

Emotion-related brain activity (ACC, etc…) is associated with

Answer 17

• politically biased judgements
• attitude change in the insufficient justification effect

Question 18

Marijuana Study (CD)

Answer 18

3.50$ or 35$$ to state opposite opinion to a proc, con or uncommitted audience
- attitude change was greatest where there was only $3.50 and communicating with an uncommitted audience
- suggested CD and insufficient justification effect is increased when our behavior have potential negative consequences

Question 19

Framing Effect study

Answer 19

600 people
1. A. 200 live B. 1/3 600 live, 2/3 600 die (chose A)
2. A. 400 die B. 1/3 600 live, 2/3 600 die (chose B
- people are more willing to take a risk when their is risk of losing something

Question 20

Framing effect

Answer 20

the way information is presented impacted how we interpret that information

Question 21

Loss Aversion

Answer 21

stronger motivation to avoid bad things than to seek good things
- proposed explanation for endowment effect: selling price > buying price because selling involves losing the item

Question 22

Pizza study

Answer 22

build up or scale down
- scale down ended with more ingredients, loss aversion

Question 23

organ donation study

Answer 23

opt in less likely than opt out
could be…
- misinformation effect
- effort avoidance
- loss aversion

Question 24

Effort avoidance

Answer 24

given 2 paths we choose less work path

Question 25

confirmation bias

Answer 25

finds info that will prove us right
- type of motivated reasoning

Question 26

motivated reasoning

Answer 26

we rely on biased cognitive processes, which we choose selectively based on our goals
- accuracy goals
-directional goals

Question 27

accuracy goals

Answer 27

one where we are motivated to arrive at the most accurate possible conclusion. These occur when the cost of being inaccurate is high.

Question 28

directional goals

Answer 28

one where we are motivated to arrive at a particular conclusion. We will thus narrow our thinking, selecting beliefs, etc. that support the conclusion.