Biases in judgment and decision-making

psychology

advanced

PS_W02

PS_W03

PS_K03

Knowledge of English at the B2 level is required. It is recommended to have knowledge from the basic course of Cognitive Psychology. As well as a basic understanding of psychological research methodology (especially experimental research).

Biases in judgment and decision making are especially important in cognitive psychology since they inspired many experimental and theoretical investigations. These concepts refer to the well-known phenomenon of optical illusions, they are errors and fallacies that are committed with a strong belief in veracity of judgment. During this lecture selected examples of biases will be discussed along with the mechanisms of human information processing that explain them.

The goal of this lecture is to broaden students' knowledge about paradigms and theoretical models of cognition. It is expected that students will acquire good understanding of the nature of scientific (experimental) investigation. A secondary aim of the course is to develop students' English vocabulary concerning judgments and decision making psychology.

Topics:

1. Introduction. Rationality of human cognition. Kahneman and Tversky’s research program on judgment and decision making.

2. Base-rate neglect.

3. Pseudocontingency.

4. Hindsight bias

5. Conjunction fallacy

6. Support theory and subadditivity in judgment of probability.

7. Cognitive dissonance and choice induced preference change.

8. Preference reversals.

9. Pollyanna principle. Anchoring effect

10. Associative memory illusion- DRM paradigm.

11. Misinformation effect

12. The Moses illusion

13. Misattribution and cryptomnesia

14. Validity effect. Mere exposure effect.

15. Concluding remarks.

Readings:

Gallo, D. A. (2006). Associative illusions of memory: False memory research in DRM and related tasks. Psychology Press.

Pohl, R. (Ed.) (2016). Cognitive illusions. Intriguing phenomena in judgement, thinking and memory. 2nd Ed. Psychology Press.

Schacter, D. L. (2001). The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers. New York, Houghton Mifflin.

Student knows and understands what the specificity of experimental approach to judgment and decision making is.

Student knows and understands what the analysis of judgment/decision processes is and how it should proceed.

The student is ready to complement by herself the knowledge and skills using latest reports from the research on human judgment and decision making. She/he understands and uses specialized terminology in English in the field of cognitive psychology.

Lectures end with a written examination in the form of a test (students will be given a set of supporting questions in advance). There will be four answer options with one correct answer in each test question.

Assessment criteria:

The final grade will depend on:

- participation in lectures,

- the result of the final test.

A necessary condition to receive a positive mark is: obtaining minimum 55% of points from the final test and not more than 5 absences.

Obtaining such a result means that the student has achieved the learning outcomes at a sufficient level.