L13: Judgment and Decision-making

A learning module on judgment and decision-making for Psyc 2530.
Author

Matt Crump

Modified

November 8, 2023

Goals

Instructions

Work through each of the following sections: Read, Watch/listen, and Engage. You have the full week to complete any quizzes or assignments for this module.

Read

This empirical article is available on blackboard. It is in the additional readings section of the module, and can be downloaded from the list of attached files. You can also obtain the article through the Brooklyn College library. There will be quiz questions about this paper.

Shen, O., Rabinowitz, R., Geist, R. R., & Shafir, E. (2010). Effect of Background Case Characteristics on Decisions in the Delivery Room. Medical Decision Making, 30(4), 518–522. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272989X09353451

Watch/Listen

There is one mini-lecture for this module.

Lecture 1

slides

pdf

Engage

When you are ready complete any or all of the following assignments.

  1. QUIZ: Complete the L12: Judgment and Decision-making quiz (2.5 points, on blackboard)
  2. Writing: (5 points, instructions below, submit on blackboard)

Submit your work before the due date posted on blackboard. Then, move on to the next learning module.

Apply a cognitive bias to real life

There are many known cognitive biases that may influence how people make judgments and decisions. This wikipedia list provides a fairly comprehensive list of known biases :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

  1. Pick any cognitive bias from the above list
  2. Provide a brief definition/example of the cognitive bias that you chose
  3. Generate two real-world scenarios where you would expect the cognitive bias to influence a person’s judgment and decision-making process.

Here is an example of a completed assignment, but you will have to use a different cognitive bias.

Anchoring bias

Definition: The anchoring bias occurs when judgments are biased toward a salient and potentially arbitrary stimulus that serves as the anchor. For example, a small number could be presented as an anchor, and later judgments about quantities could be biased toward smaller numbers because the anchoring stimulus was a small number.

Real-world Example 1: A used car lot lists the sale prices of cars as much higher than they are worth. These prices serve as anchors, and they may bias potential buyers to make offers that are closer to the anchor value (higher than the car is worth), compared to the real value of the car.

Real-world Example 2: The first dish you taste at a new restaurant was way too salty. As you taste other dishes you are biased to judge them as over-salted as well.