PSY100H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Ellen Langer, Representativeness Heuristic, Psy
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
PSY 100: LEC 14
Motivation
Things are only split up as having or not having, and this is unproductive. Top-down
processing play role in motivation
More ways our brains deceive us
-we've talked about top-down processes, their efficiency gains, and accuracy costs
-Another way in which we deceive ourselves (some of the time) is through the use of
HEURISTICS (rules of thumb, shortcuts), cognitive shortcuts
-There are some common reasoning...
Because...
-hey can I bud in line because I'm in a rush/I want to make paper
-plays as cognitive heuristics, top-down processes
-You hear because and go on autopilot, if they see lots of books and then asks they
pay attention
-Ellen Langer: photocopy study
-"Excuse me, may I use the Xerox machine?"
-"Excuse me... Because I'm in a rush
-"Excuse me...because I want to copy paper
Who is this?
-let me describe someone I know... He's short, slim, and likes to read poetry
-Is this a truck driver or a professor of classics
-Not many professors of classics but many truck drivers
-Reason intuitively: what does this sound like, feel like, small changes in reasoning
leads to different results
Ignoring Base Rates
-The representativeness heuristic:
-Making decisions based in the extent to which information seems similar to a
category you have in mind...
-Ex. Doctors often ignore base rates of illnesses when making diagnosis - "follow
the symptoms"
-Investors often ignore base rates of business failure in a sector when making
investment decisions (it sure looks like a good business plan..)
-And we blame (and punish) people excessively for "bad" behaviour, often
ignoring the CONTENTS that shape and influence those people
Ignoring base rates example
-Why were you rude to Sally?
!1
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