Myths, heuritics, and critical thinking WK 4

Question 1

What are the sources of myths (summary as table)

Answer 1

-Word of mouth
-Selective memory
-Causation from correlation
-Post hoc, ergo propter hoc
-Biased samples
-Reasoning by representativeness
-Media portrayals (e.g. disorders in film)
-Partial truths
-Terminology
-False dichotomies and slippery slope

Question 2

Describe word of mouth as source of myths

Answer 2

-Myths often spread verbally
-Sometimes partial truths to them
-Hearing claim repeatedly can lead to belief that it is true

Question 3

Describe selective memory as source of myths

Answer 3

-rarely perceive reality as actually is
-tend to attribute relationships that don’t exist, over-attending to aspects found interesting

E.g. student does well on test when he using blue, so for all future tests uses only blue ( illusory correlation)

Question 4

Describe causation and correlation as source of myths

Answer 4

incorrect to assume that because two things are related, one must cause the other
e.g. relationship between the consumption of ice-cream and drowning

Question 5

Describe post hoc, ergo propter hoc as source of myths

Answer 5

-After this, therefore because of this
-assume that because A precedes B, then A must cause B

e.g. Shoes preceded schizophrenia in the modern world, so does this mean that the invention of shoes somehow caused schizophrenia?

Question 6

Describe biased samples as source of myths

Answer 6

Nature of world means we are often only exposed to a limited population

e.g. Television- depicts people with schizophrenia as violent

Question 7

Describe reasoning by representativeness as source of myths

Answer 7

Evaluating similarity between two things based on their superficial resemblance to each other

(taking a ‘shortcut’- called the representative heuristic)

Question 8

Describe media portrayals as source of myths

Answer 8

(e.g. disorders in film)

Question 9

Describe terminology as source of myths

Answer 9

result from mistaken inferences related to their terminology

e.g. schizophrenia means ‘split mind’, but the condition does not involve

Question 10

Describe false dichotomies and slippery slope as source of myths

Answer 10

False dichotomy e.g ‘Either you eat an apple every day, or you get sick and need to see the doctor’, ‘If you are vegetarian, then you must be someone who is compassionate toward animals’

Slippery slope e.g. ‘If we are willing to reduce the number of jurors from 12 to 10, then why not reduce it to just 2 people, 1 person, or none at all?’, ‘If we lower the legal drinking age, then we’ll end up having ten year-olds getting drunk in bars

Question 11

Describe partial truths as source of myths

Answer 11

Some myths based on truth, but have been misinterpreted /manipulated

Question 12

Describe/define heuristics. What are it’s types

Answer 12

-cognitive shortcuts use readily accessible info to make quick judgements
-Useful quick decision required or limited info available
-usually lead to systematic errors, cognitive biases
-types:
Thinking heuristics
Judgement heuristics
Memory heuristics

Question 13

Define conjunction fallacy as thinking heuristics

Answer 13

-probability of two events together can’t be greater than probability of events by themselves

(probability ALWAYS less for two events together than one)

Question 14

Define confirmation bias as thinking heuristics. What is compatibility principle?

Answer 14

-default reaction favouring information confirming own belief/ preconceived understandings
-think of decision in terms of choosing not rejecting

-Compatibility principle-look for information based on what we are being asked to do (accept or reject)

Question 15

Define illusory correlation as thinking heuristics

Answer 15

Perceiving relationship when one does not exist- people generally misperceive random events as related
-Illusory correlation forms the basis of many stereotypes
e.g. computer scientists=nerds

Question 16

Define fundamental attribution error as thinking heuristics

Answer 16

to over-value personality based explanations for observed behaviours
-place undue emphasis on internal characteristics than external factors in situation
e.g. assume slow driver is elderly

Question 17

Define stereotypes as thinking heuristics

Answer 17

false assumption that members of group share same characteristics
-categorisation simplifies and systematises info so more easily identified, recalled, predicted to

Question 18

Define Baader–Meinhof phenomenon as thinking heuristics

Answer 18

-faulty impression that something happens more frequently than it really does
-occurs when learning something new, suddenly seems to appear more frequently, in reality only our awareness that has increased

Question 19

Define self-serving bias as thinking heuristics

Answer 19

attribute events incorrectly
-take personal credit for positive outcomes
-blame negative outcomes on external events

Question 20

Define availability heuristic as judgement heuristic

Answer 20

Predict frequency of events based on how easily example provided
-notion that if something can be recalled, it must be more likely to be true

Out of sharks, bees, and horses, which causes the most deaths in the world?

Question 21

Define representativeness heuristic as judgement heuristic

Answer 21

Judging probability of a hypothesis based on resemblance of available data
- Judge by intuitively comparing something to mental representation of a category

Question 22

Define anchoring effect as judgement heuristic

Answer 22

to rely heavily on first piece of info offered (anchor) when decision making
-implicitly suggested reference point–>subsequent judgments made by adjusting around anchor

Question 23

Define Forer/Barnum effect as judgement heuristic

Answer 23

give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of own personality that are vague enough to be about anyone
-manifested in response to ‘Barnum statements’ (i.e., characterisations about person found valid even despite being generalisations applicable others)

Question 24

Define Pollyanna principle as judgement heuristic

Answer 24

-subconscious bias toward the positive/optimistic
-e.g. agree with positive statements about self

Question 25

Define halo effect as judgement heuristic. What is opposite effect called?

Answer 25

-overall impression of subject positive, based on single characteristic

-(e.g., assuming physically attractive people are intelligent, kind, tidy, etc.)
-opposite referred to as horn effect

Question 26

Define just world theory as judgement heuristic. Where is it prevalently seen?

Answer 26

-Attribute failures to dispositional causes meets need to believe world is fair (karma, psychological defence mechanism)
-prevalent in health research (person must have done something to deserve illness)

Question 27

Define misinformation effect as memory heuristics

Answer 27

exposure to misleading info between encoding of event and its subsequent recall, causing impaired memory (car crash analogy)

Question 28

Define critical thinking

Answer 28

developmental skills- require practise to become better at applying skills
-pattern of thinking involves search for alternative perspectives, integrating across these, and making appropriate adjustments to confidence level

Question 29

Describe extraordinary claims as critical thinking in research

Answer 29

the more claim predicts what’s known, more persuasive evidence for claim must be
central concept to scientific method and is key issue for critical thinking, rational thought, and scepticism e.g. Alien abductions

Question 30

Describe Occam’s razor as critical thinking in research

Answer 30

-Also known as the principle of parsimony
-removal of unnecessarily, complex explanations arriving at simplest (one which also accounts for most info)

Question 31

Describe testability and falsifiability as critical thinking in research

Answer 31

Scientific theories must be both testable and falsifiable

Question 32

Describe replicability as critical thinking in research

Answer 32

findings of study able to be duplicated consistently, increasing confidence in findings

Question 33

Describe correlation is not causation as critical thinking in research

Answer 33

common mistake concluding that relation between two things means one must cause other

Question 34

Describe ruling out rival hypotheses as critical thinking in research

Answer 34

Can’t accept findings at face value in line with our theory
-must challenge and consider other explanations

Question 35

What is ability vs willingness

Answer 35

Ability
-Understand critical thinking- definition and value
-Learn critical thinking skills /strategies

Willingness
-open to utilise critical thinking skills in evaluating evidence
-Consider alternative perspectives and being proven wrong

Question 36

Why can critical thinking be difficult

Answer 36

Limited resources
-costly constantly thinking critically about everything-need to be selective-think sceptically

Motivated reasoning
-motivated to believe certain things, reasoning then biased
-difficult to be open to change
-Use split-mind approach to help

Question 37

define lateral reading as an application of critical thinking

Answer 37

fact-checking, finds more info on claims made across different sources
-Check range of sources from range of authors w/range of different interests/purposes

Question 38

Define split-mind approach as an application of critical thinking

Answer 38

-encourages to keep fair, open mind
-One half actively agreeing
-other half actively thinking of counter