AP Psych. DMAAP Psych. DMA

Write down the questions and don’t forget to leave room for your answers.

1.The overconfidence phenomenon refers to the tendency to:

2.Whorf's linguistic determinism hypothesis emphasizes that:

Today’s AgendaToday’s Agenda

DMAConfirmation biasFraming

Homework: FRQ # 1 & 2 – due Thursday, Nov. 3rd

FRQ #3 – due Tuesday, Nov. 8th Self-Experiment – due Monday, Nov. 28th

Chapter 10 & 11 Test Tuesday, Nov. 15th

Chapter 10 & 11 notes - due Tuesday Nov. 15th

Confirmation Bias and Confirmation Bias and Social JudgmentsSocial Judgments

Our tendency to search for confirming information may have important implications for our social judgments.

Eldar Shafir presented Eldar Shafir presented research participants research participants

with the following with the following scenario…scenario…

Scenario:Scenario:

Imagine that you serve on the jury of an only-child sole custody case following a relatively messy divorce.

The facts of the case are complicated by ambiguous economic, social, and emotional considerations, and you decide to base your decision entirely on the following few observations.

To which parent would you award sole custody of the child?

Who would you choose?Who would you choose?

Parent A, who has an average income, average health, average working hours, a reasonable rapport with the child, and a relatively stable social life,

or Parent B, who has an above-average

income, minor health problems, lots of work-related travel, a very close relationship with the child, and an extremely active social life.

Most participants chose to Most participants chose to award custody to Parent B.award custody to Parent B.

Interestingly, however, when a different group is given the same scenario and asked to which parent they would deny custody, the majority also select Parent B.

Parent B is thought to be both more and less worthy of caring for the child.

Why?Why?

When asked who should be awarded custody, people look primarily for positive qualities and paid less attention to negative qualities.

• This perspective leads them to favor Parent

B • because of the close relationship with the

child and the high income.

When asked who should be denied custody, people look primarily for negative qualities and pay less attention to positive qualities.

This, too, would lead them to Parent B◦because of the health problems and extensive

absences due to travel.

Which brings us to LevyWhich brings us to Levy and confirmation bias. Levy explores its

implications for social and clinical judgment.

In one study college students were instructed to conduct interviews with other students to assess the presence of certain personality traits.

• Half were asked to determine if the interviewee was an extravert • and the other half were asked to

determine if he/she was an introvert.

Findings indicated that the subjects who were asked to ascertain whether their interviewee was an extravert chose extraversion-related questions

• Example – “What would you do if you wanted to liven things up at a party?”

Whereas those seeking to determine if the interviewee was an introvert asked introversion-related questions

Example – “What factors make it really hard for you to open up to people?”

As a result…As a result…• those who were tested for extraversion

actually appeared more extraverted• those who were tested for introversion

appeared more introverted.

• Interviewers found the personality traits (for which they were probing) simply on the basis of the questions they chose to ask.

So why is this a problem?So why is this a problem?Levy argues that therapists may selectively

elicit clinical information that affirms their initial diagnostic impressions.

For example…• Therapists who think a new therapy

patient may be an alcoholic may ask questions regarding his drinking habits

“Have you ever had occasion to drink alone?”

his history of substance use “Have you ever had hangovers?”

any lapses of memory “Have you ever forgotten events that

happened to you the night before?”experiences with depression

“Do you sometimes feel very sad?”possible marital conflicts

“Do you have arguments with your spouse?”

All the responses may confirm the belief that the patient is a closet drinker.

Problem isProblem ismany people who are not alcoholics:• drink by themselves• have endured hangovers• have occasional lapses in memory• suffer through periods of depression• argue with their wives.

There's Good News and There's Good News and There's Bad NewsThere's Bad News

Framing

How we process our facts How we process our facts influences how we make our influences how we make our decisions, but…decisions, but…

Facts can be framed in different ways, depending on our purpose and context.

Framing is the way an issue is posed. (i.e. the way a sentence is worded to present an issue in a certain light.)

Example from Monday…Example from Monday…

Would you want to buy ground beef that is labeled 20% fat?

Probably not.

But you would most likely be more inclined to buy that same ground beef if it was labeled 80% lean.

Framing comes into play in how we present information to others.

And quite often, it has the ability to influence…

• how we view our situation• how we purchase goods• how we deliver bad news• etc…

Your turn.Your turn.• Arrange yourselves into your study groups.• Each group will receive a scenario

• Some groups will have the same scenarios.

• As a group, create a mini presentation in which you try to frame the information (from your scenario) to produce the intended outcome.• Presentation should be no more than 1

minute.• Your audience is the class• Presentations begin at 1:55