PSYCH253 Chapter Notes - Chapter B: Illusory Correlation, Depressive Realism, Confirmation Bias
8 Nov 2018
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Clinical psychology: the study, assessment, and treatment of people with psychological difficulties. As social phenomena, clinical judgements are vulnerable to illusory correlations, overconfidence bred by hindsight, and self-confirming diagnoses. It is tempting to see correlations where none exist. Clinicians, like all of us, may perceive illusory correlations. Hi(cid:374)dsight e(cid:454)pla(cid:374)atio(cid:374)s of people"s diffi(cid:272)ulties are so(cid:373)eti(cid:373)es too eas(cid:455). I(cid:374)deed, after-the-fact explaining can breed overconfidence in clinical judgement. When interacting with clients, erroneous diagnoses are sometimes self-confirming, because interviewers tend to seek and recall information that verifies what they are looking for. People often test for a trait by looking for information that confirms it. Confirmation bias also occurs when people evaluate themselves. Too readily convinced of their own after-the-fact analyses. Unaware that erroneous diagnose can be self-confirming. Depressed people tend to think in negative terms. Depressive realism: the tendency of mildly depressed people to make accurate rather than self- serving judgements, attributions, and predictions.
