PSYC 2001 Lecture Notes - Availability Heuristic, Pseudoscience
16 Sep 2014
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Document Summary
Our own experiences and those of our friends/family are powerful sources f information. You always have to ask compared to what? : blood-letting example (textbook) Had to add comparison to those who died. It is confounded: we can"t control things around us that affect whatever it is we"re looking into. Which thing actually caused the other is beyond us: labs are good at controlling effects b) Accepted as true because it feels right: gut feelings, heat of the moment. Rely on anecdotal evidence to draw conclusions about the world around us. Illusory correlation: focus on two events that stand out and occur together. Can be the victim of bias: swayed by good stories, availability heuristic, swayed by evidence we prefer, authority. Believing ideas to be true because they were presented by an authority figure: politicians, newspapers, celebrities, tenacity. Accepted as facts from a long time ago.
