Reference no: EM133612998

Assignment:

I must Identify the cognitive biases committed in, or illustrated by, each of the following passages, and then explain them briefly. (The possible answers are confirmation bias, resisting contrary evidence, availability error, framing bias, actor/observer bias, conjunction fallacy, gambler's fallacy, and anchoring effect.)

1. A study by Dr. Daoud and his colleagues demonstrated that, when doctors' encounter a certain health condition amongst their patients, they then have a greater tendency to misdiagnose patients they encounter later as having this same illness. The reason for this is doctors are presumably, is that their experience with the earlier patients makes it easier for them to recall this illness.

2. In one study conducted in a prison, both prisoners and guards were asked to rate the cause of certain offenses committed by prisoners. (Saulnier & Perlman, 1981) As one might expect, prisoners tend to see their crimes as caused by the situation they were in, whereas guards tend to see these crimes as caused by internal/dispositional characteristics of the prisoners.

3. Participants in one study were much more likely to purchase beef described as 75% lean as opposed to the same beef described as 25% fat.

4. Doctors who strongly suspect a certain diagnosis tend to ask questions that would support that diagnosis, and not to consider symptoms suggesting a different one, or ask questions that might be inconsistent with their diagnosis.

5. When Ellen went to buy a new car, the salesperson showed her a Toyota Prius, but Ellen thought the price was too high. Later, after the salesperson said her manager would agree to give a significant discount, Ellen was so grateful she immediately decided to buy the car.

6. Some joggers were asked whether they were more likely to be bitten by someone's pet dog, or whether they were more likely to be bitten by any member of any canine (i.e., dog) species. The joggers thought it was more likely that they would be bitten by someone's pet dog.

7. According to some economists, investors in the stock market tend to hold onto stocks that have depreciated and sell stocks that have appreciated. They describe this as a "general disposition to sell winners too early and hold losers too long." Investors may see the continual rise of a stock's value as an indication that it will soon crash [because they think the price of stocks is largely a random matter], therefore deciding to sell. Likewise, if a stock has lost value, this can be taken as an indication that it is due to appreciate, and so they decide to hold onto those stocks.

8. When confronted with detailed data to show that there is no causal link between vaccinations and autism, comedian and noted anti-vaxxer Jim Carey, insisted that the medical community is concealing the evidence because they can make money from vaccinations.