Cognitive Approach - Cognitive Processing - Thinking & Decision-Making

Question 1

Thinking

Answer 1

• The process of using knowledge and information to make plans, interpret the world and make predictions about the world

Question 2

Decison-Making

Answer 2

• A cognitive process where people choose a belief or action from a wide range of possibilities
  
  • Needed for problem-solving to reach a conclusion

Question 3

Dual Processing Model

Answer 3

• Developed by Kahneman
• System 1
  
  • automatic
  • intuitive (nonconscious)
  • effortless
  • fast
  • not logic based
  • prone to error/biases
• System 2
  
  • analytic
  • rational
  • under conscious control
  • takes effort
  • slow
  • reliable

Question 4

Dual Processing Model Strength

Answer 4

• Lot of evidence to support the conclusion that we use heuristics in decision making and that they do not always lead to errors
• The dual process model (System 1 & 2) is widely used and helps us to understand humans as “activated actors” with access to automatic thinking and conscious controlled processing
• The tests for cognitive biases are reliable in their results.
• The is biological evidence that difference types of thinking may be processed in different parts other brain

Question 5

Dual Processing Model Limitations

Answer 5

• Overly reductionist model as it does not clearly explain how (or even if) these modes of thinking interact or how our thinking and decision making could be influenced by emotions
• The labels “representativeness” or “anchor” are simplistic and fail to show underlying mechanisms involved in making a decision
• The definitions of System 1 and System 2 are not always clear (construct validity)
• Research on the model often lacks ecological validity
• People are asked to make decisions with very limited information

Question 6

Alter et al. (2007)

Answer 6

Aim:
- Investigate whether individuals employ System-2 rather than System-1 thinking when tasks become unusually difficult.

Pps:
- 40 undergraduates

Procedure:
- Pps were asked to complete the 3-item Cognitive Relfection Test
- control condition (fleunt): printed in an easy-to-read
font
- test condition (disfluent): printed in a hard-to-read font

Results:

• Higher accuract in the test (disfluent) condition (M=2.45) vs control (fluent) condiiton (M=1.90)
• 90% of the fluent condition answered min. 1 question wrong, only 35% in the disfluent condition
• 23% of the pps gave incorrected and intuitive responses in the fluent condition vs 10% disfluent condition

Question 7

Englich and Mussweiler (2001)

Answer 7

Experiment 1

Aim:
- Investigate if anchoring bias (that sentencing demands can serve as anchors) could play a significant role in determining sentencing in courtrooms

Pps:
- 44 senior German law students

Procedure:
- PPS were given a scenario of a rape case, along with copies of the relevant passages from the penal code

• The materials were related to a case of an alleged rape
• After pps had formed an option about the case, they were handed a questionnaire.
• 1/2 of the participants were first told that the prosecutor demanded a sentence of 34 months, and the other half 12 months, for the defendant.
• They had to indicate whether this sentence was too low, adequate, or too high.
• After, pps were asked to indicate the sentence they would give

Results:
- for 34 months: pps recommended on average 8 months longer in prison than for 12 months

Experiment 2:

Aim:
- Examine the role of experience in decision making in trial judges

Pps:

• 16 trial judges (12 male, 4 female) from one regional superior court in Germany
• Mean age 44.6 years
• Worked as judges for M=15.40 years

Procedure:
- Randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions

• Same case materials as experiment 1
• Same central questionnaire and general instructions as experiment 1
• 1/2 demand was 34 months, other1.2 demand was 12 months
• Pps were sent the case materials and central questionnaire and general instructions
• In the instructions, they were told to form an opinion about the case before answering the questionnaire

Results:
- The given sentences were higher when pps evaluated the high demand than when they evaluated the low demand