Examples Illustrating Social Psychological Concepts

Children modeling parents - cute little video [added 12/12/07]

Ambiguity of Situation - I see examples all the time of how the level of ambiguity of need for help in a situation has changed over time in our society. For example, quite a few years ago if the interior light of a car was on it usually meant the person forgot to turn it off. If you saw that person leaving his car with the light still on you might mention it to him. As the technology advanced so that more and more cars had interior lights that turned off by themselves, there was a period of time during which that experience was an ambiguous one (at least for me). Is this one of those cars? Eventually, it was no longer ambiguous. Now, if I see someone close up a car and leave and the interior light is still on, I am quite confident that will turn off on its own. No help is needed. A similar pattern has occurred more recently (at least for me!) with car headlights. A few years ago, even if you knew that interior light was going off on its own, if the headlights were left on you might mention it to the driver. Now, some headlights turn off on their own shortly after the driver leaves. So, now I'm back in the land of ambiguity! Eventually, I imagine, when I see a driver walk away from his car, and it's rolling backwards down the hill, I'll think, "Oh, it's one of those new ones that park themselves."

The heroic bystander - another good example of someone who risks signficant danger to help others in need -- is it a truly unselfish act? [12/27/06]

Bystander Effect - an interesting (and ethically questionable) MSNBC video demonstration of the bystander effect -- a man and a young girl roleplay his abducting her on the street. Will passerbys stop to help? Watch what the hidden video captures. Must be viewed in Internet Explorer. [added 7/5/06]

Bystander Effect - When we talked about altruism and helpfulness in class two past experiences crossed my mind. The first experience was on my sister's birthday, December 22nd. Our family had a dinner planned for this occasion. We were all to meet at a restaurant at a particular time. The weather on her birthday was terrible. It was very cold and icy. Also, there was quite a bit of snow still on the ground from the previous week. Well, I got stuck in my parking spot at my apartment. And, no one helped. I saw several people look out their patio windows at me, but no one helped. My tires were spinning and I know people must of heard my car. I was absolutely frozen. Well, finally I managed to dig around my tires and rock myself out of the rut. I was late for the dinner and had a chill all night. I was very mad that people saw me and did not help. I just couldn't believe they would watch a girl struggle whom they had seen in the apartment hallways and laundry room. However, after talking about the reasons some people help and some don't in class, I understand a little bit more. I believe the reason most people didn't help was just the ambiguity of the situation and lack of empathy. These people were just unsure about whether I really needed help or the consequence if they did help. And, it was so cold perhaps it just was not worth the effort. In addition, there was obviously diffusion of responsibility as there were many observers, yet not one helped. Perhaps, the observers thought someone would eventually help me and each passed the buck to the other.

Bystander Effect - This PBS site accompanying a Frontline show on the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan massacre details how many countries stood by and did little to prevent the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandans.

Empathy - "Doctors who express empathy get highest patient ratings." [added 12/26/07]

Empathy - Relating to my husband's broken leg experience (again!), I offered some help to a woman last week at school. She was on two crutches and looked wistfully at the coffee pots before class started. I offered her my seat so she could put her bad leg on the table and got her some coffee. After living with this situation for so long, I know it's impossible to carry a cup of coffee while on crutches. This is a perfect example relating to my notes on "conditions affecting whether or not to help -- #6 empathy -- more likely to help similar others because easier to empathize/easier to relate to them." (I know punctuation is incorrect, but here I am quoting my incorrectly punctuated class notes!) This was the only condition which warranted me to help: there were many other people around; I was anonymous to her; I didn't feel guilty about anything; and I didn't even think about her response.

Empathy - The second experience was when I was on my way home which at this time was to my parents' house. I saw a jogger on the side of the road which looked injured as he was lying down and holding his leg. It was dark out and I wanted to stop, but thought maybe I should get my dad to come with me. So, I drove quickly home and dashed into the house to tell my dad. My dad was very eager to help just as I was because he was a jogger. You see, both of my parents and myself are joggers (similarity was the key here). Anyhow, my dad went with me to go see if we could help this injured jogger. Well, he wobbled himself to a parking lot down the street when my dad and I found him. He was not a jogger, but a drunk with long hair and earrings and a beautiful orange jacket. I was so glad my dad was with me! My dad and I brought the man home and I apologized to my dad for mistaking him for a jogger. He was very understanding. I believe both my dad and I could relate to what I perceived as an injured jogger. My dad has limped home himself several times. We definitely had empathy for this supposed jogger. I believe our moods were good too. I know my dad and myself well enough to know that if either one of us were in a bad mood, we would not have bothered.

Fear inhibits helping - Here's an interesting and disturbing first-person story of a journalist (and others) observing a helpless victim receiving a vicious beating and not intervening. This link takes you to an interesting blog which connects this event to some research on what is courage. [added 11/17/07]

Guilt - I went through the Starbucks' drive thru over the weekend and after I order the lady asked if I would alike to buy a pot of coffee for the soldiers in Iraq. I was not ready for the question; I was kind of frazzled from other things going on (drive thrus wig me out, expecially when it is the building and a curb and the car has to fit between the two....YIKES). Anyway, I said yes because how do you say no. Guilt surely took over me. I would have felt horrible if I said no, but why... who knows if the soldiers will really get the pot of coffee. It was certainly somewhat of a selfish act because I did not have to worry about feeling guilty for the rest of the day. [added 4/16/08]

"The guilty green" - Guilt and Helping - Describes the guilt many environmentally-conscious people feel when their behavior is not always consistent with their beliefs [added 12/26/07]

Responsibility - An example of someone not helping because they feel that the event was internally caused and controllable was found in the movie "Burning Bed." In it, Farrah Fawcett is being abused by her husband and goes to her mother for help. Her mother's response is, "You make a hard bed; you got to lie in it." Here the mother clearly feels that since the daughter decided to marry the man -- a controllable, internally caused decision -- she isn't as deserving of help. It's her fault, she'll have to deal with it.

Social Responsibility Norm - During the recent flooding in Gurnee, the TV reporters interviewed many people who were sand-bagging, asking them why they were helping out. Many responded in line with the social responsibility norm. They didn't live in the area, had nothing to gain or lose from stopping the flooding, but were out there helping because it seemed the right thing to do. I think that many were also motivated by what the book terms "perceived reasons for the need." People are more likely to provide help if they attribute the difficulty to external causes beyond the person's control. Here the rain causing the river to rise and flood would be an example of an uncontrollable event externally caused.

Attributions

Heider's attribution animations - Fritz Heider and Mary-Ann Simmel created an animation as part of a study (1944) on observers' attributions. Here is an animation similar to what they created. Here is another version of the animation. Here is some explanation and history of these animations. [added 12/12/07]

Michotte demonstrations of causal attribution [added 3/31/04]

Cartoon (New Yorker) - internal and external

Kelley's Model of Covariation - a nice series of examples from Robin Akert [added 7/24/08]

Kelley's Model of Covariation - One of my fellow managers came to me today with a complaint about the performance of one of my subordinates. They had been in a meeting together where Tony (my subordinate) had acted very surly and obstinate about a new process we were trying to implement. John (my peer) made the comment to me that "Tony sure is an uncooperative person. You need to straighten out his attitude." I asked John if Tony was the only one to act in that manner. John replied that most others in the meeting were upset but Tony just happened to be the worst. My next thought was that Tony is usually pretty easy going and has never been upset when we've implemented a new procedure. I asked John whether he'd ever seen Tony get upset at any other meetings and John replied that he hadn't. By using Kelley's model and considering consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness, we concluded that Tony was acting in an uncharacteristic manner and must be upset about the new procedures (an external cause). The saleswoman got really excited the other night when Kevin (19 months old) waved bye-bye and smiled at her. She probably thought that Kevin really liked her and that his behavior was highly distinctive. I know that he is consistent in waving and smiling, and this was not reserved especially for her. I doubt that all babies wave and smile at everyone, so that would not be a consensus.

Fundamental Attribution Error - I let my students know that I regularly exhibit the errors and biases we discuss in class, and none is easier than the FAE. So, I'm in a fast food restaurant when I decide I need to use the bathroom. The door to the single-user bathroom is closed. Is anybody in there? I try the doorknob to find out. It is unlocked, so I proceed to enter. A man, with his back to me, fortunately, is at the urinal. I exit and close the door. Enter the FAE. Why wouldn't he lock the door? What kind of guy is he? I am not just led to negative attributions; I also consider that he is comfortable enough with himself that he is not embarrassed.

You probably know where this is going. As I take my turn in the bathroom I notice that the lock is broken on the door. And as I continue to use the bathroom, another person opens the door only to find it occupied. I wonder what he was thinking? And why didn't I or the previous occupant tell the next person that the lock was broken? [added 9/23/07]

Fundamental Attribution Error - Today, I was stopped at a red light. At one point, I edged my car forward slightly. Immediately after I did this, the man next to me (in his very sporty, turbo, fancy car of some sort) edged forward also. I, at once, thought to myself, "What a jerk, he just doesn't want me to get ahead of him when the light turns green." At this point, I realized that I wasn't taking this man's perspective and that I was making a fundamental attribution error. Perhaps my movement forward made him think the light was green, or perhaps he was just tired of having his foot on the brake like I was.

Unfortunately, our new apartment is not completely sound-proof. My husband and I can easily hear the person above us. We have never met the person but we already have preconceived ideas about who she is, what she does, and what her attitudes are. Last night, she came home very late and right away Bruce starts going on about what a tramp she must be for staying out so late. He constantly makes fundamental attribution errors about this person above us. Since we have never met her, we cannot possibly take her actual perspective of things. However, we could give her the benefit of the doubt. Who knows, maybe her car broke down or she was on vacation and her plane came in late. Although we don't know her and we probably shouldn't think things about her without even meeting her, it's fun to make up ideas about who the person upstairs really is.

Fundamental Attribution Error - I tell my students of how I used to drive into a gas station and get upset at another driver whose car was sitting at the second pump in an aisle while there was no car at the first pump. "What an idiot. Why didn't he/she just pull up to the first pump?" Of course, it usually hit me that perhaps there had been a car at the first pump when this driver pulled in. I no longer jump to the conclusion that the driver is an idiot, so I also use this as an example of how it is possible to control this error. We discuss how difficult that is.

Self-serving Bias

Jantelagen - Eric Hansen, from Sweden, passed along this example: "The Swedes have a phenomenon (or in this case sort of a norm) they call Jantelagen (pronounced Yanta lagen). I think it comes originally from Denmark. I myself am a US citizen who moved to Sweden in 1997, so I do not have Swedish culture as my own, which is probably both an advantage and a disadvantage. I probably notice things my colleagues don't, but don't have the background to understand them as fully they would once I recognize them. Anyway, this Jantelagen, which I believe means Jante's law can be interpreted as a strong norm against extolling one's virtues and achievements.

One of my students once sent me the following "satirical" 10 commandments related to Jantelagen: taken from a source I could probably find. I believe it is a book called En flykting kryssar sitt spor (1933) by Aksel Sandmose.

Below is a direct translation of what they mean, in some cases with my interpretation in parentheses.

Jantelagen (10 satiriska budord) - Jantelagen 10 satirical commandments

1. Du skall icke tro att du är något. -- You (thou) shall not believe that you are something. (You should not believe you are something special)

2. Du skall icke tro, att du är lika god som vi. -- You shall not believe that you're as good as we are.

3. Du shall icke tro, att du är klokare än vi. -- You shall not believe you are wiser than we are.

4. Du skall icke tro, att du är bättre än vi. -- You shall not believe that you're better than we are.

5. Du skall icke tro, att du vet mer än vi. -- You shall not believe that you know more than we do.

6. Du skall icke tro, att du är förmer än vi. -- You shall not believe that you are superior to us.

7. Du skall icke tro, att du duger något till. -- You shall not believe that you're good enough for anything.

8. Du skall icke skratta åt oss. -- You shall not laugh at us.

9. Du skall icke tro, att någon bryr sig om dig. -- You shall not think anyone cares about you. (an interesting aside, there was recently a giant hit song with the chorus nobody cares where you bought your sweater, I know it doesn't translate so well, but the point they were trying to make in the song was that you're not as important as you think).

10. Du skall icke tro, att du kan lära oss något. -- You shall not believe you can teach us anything.

Based on this "law" I am currently running a study in collaboration with a colleague in the States which makes a cross-cultural comparison of the self-serving bias. The idea is that Swedes are less likely to extol their virtues than Americans, unless permitted to do so anonymously. I view it as a type of false modesty, meaning I think Swedes privately think they are better than other people, but are loathe to talk about it publicly. I have some preliminary data that show significant differences in estimates of oneself compared to estimates of the "average other" in Swedes when ratings are made anonymously. In a follow up (being run now) I am investigating what happens when ratings are made publicly." [added 7/5/06]

Cartoon (New Yorker) [added 3/7/02]

Cartoon (New Yorker) - inflated group perception

We had a golf meet yesterday. I played terribly. It was my worst round in like three or four years. Naturally, I was a CLASSIC case study of self-serving bias. I came up with every excuse in the book to explain why I played so poorly. It was raining; it was the first time I ever played that course; I had a couple of bad holes; the list goes on and on. I attributed my failure on a hundred external factors, but none on me. I couldn't understand why I played so poorly, so there must have been some causes. I never play that bad, so I tried to find reasons. Well, there's always tomorrow ... My first experience with writing options in the securities market was a great success. Not only was it profitable, but I managed to sell and buy at the precise high and low points thereby confirming my belief that I was exceptionally good at this. I was soon projecting how my profits would grow over the next few years. The results that followed were not as impressive. A mix of smaller wins and losses did not change my beliefs. There were always explanations that could take me off the hook and place the blame on some external circumstances that which were temporary and unusual. Essentially the small losses were written off as flukes, and the small wins were seen as a direct result of my skill; they would have been even larger had so many things not turned against me. The self serving bias (wanting to see myself as a skilled trader) and the illusion of control (believing all the wins were a result of my good judgement) were at work here. It was not until a substantial one time loss occurred that I began to objectively evaluate my performance. The dissonance between my beliefs and what was occurring became too great to rationalize away.

Impression Formation

Impression formation - In this clip from the film Young Sherlock Holmes, a young Sherlock Holmes meets a young Dr. Watson for the first time and draws several inferences about his future companion from a few bits of information. Another hat tip to Marianne for this link. [added 12/12/07]

Context effect - a description of a study in which participants viewed a neutral facial expression as more positive or more negative depending upon the stimulus that preceded it [added 7/8/07]

Thin slice judgments - This article reviews efforts by principals to apply the "blink" method in assessing teachers' performance. [12/27/06]

Primacy Effect - I had an interesting experience with a fellow supervisor yesterday. An employee had recently promoted out of my department into his and it was about time for him to give her a 30-day review. I asked him how she was doing. He said not too well but that he really hadn't expected much from her. This surprised me because she had been a very good worker for me. I asked him why. He said that judging from the size of her personnel file I had passed along to him he was sure he was going to have problems with her performance. I asked if he had read the file. He said no, he hadn't wanted to bias his opinion of her before his first review. I guess the Rosenthal effect is at work here because he had in fact made his "biased" judgment based on file size. If he had taken the time to read through the file he would have seen that it was full of extra training documentation and notes of commendation on work performance. This had been an employee who for me had shown much initiative and continually came up with problem solutions.

Vividness Effect/Availability Heuristic - "Baseball is a game of inches." That statement is frequently heard in baseball (and similar statements are often made in other sports). It only seems that way though because we most vividly remember the close calls and close plays. Usually the ball goes several feet or yards foul or over the fence or the runner is safe by several feet. It doesn't sound as good though to say "Baseball is a game of feet." [added 7/21/03]

Vividness Effect/Availability Heuristic - a 3-minute, 30-second clip from The Daily Show on Comedy Central spoofing the Summer of the Shark, how the media overplays the frequency of certain events [added 10/3/02]

Vividness Effect/Availability Heuristic - Had a good guest speaker in this week to talk about quality and customer service. His very first point in describing how to provide memorable service was to provide the customer with a "vivid" example so they always remember and associate your company with that. For instance, I was recently out of town, stopped in a store for a bottle of aspirin; went to the check out counter and found the price was not tagged on the item. The clerk turned to the manager walking by and asked for the price. The manager turned back to me and said, "Please accept this at no charge. This is an administrative management problem and not yours. We should have had it marked and I don't want to hold you up any longer. Sorry for the inconvenience, please come back." Was I stunned! But, as a customer I will always remember my positive experience and that vivid example will override most negatives which might occur.

Vividness Effect/Availability Heuristic - I saw the movie "Witness" last night in which Harrison Ford plays a Philadelphia cop who lives among the Amish for a short period. A strong outgroup bias was evident among the Amish. Some of them didn't accept him because he was an "Englishman." Most likely, they had encountered some other non-Amish people who behaved in a manner that wasn't acceptable to them, and they had these same feelings toward Harrison Ford initially. They had these same feelings about the woman who brought Harrison Ford to live in their community, and there was a lot of gossip about, and hostility toward, the two of them. After the community got to know Harrison Ford as a man rather than an "Englishman," they accepted him. One day Ford went to town with a group of Amish people. He was dressed like the rest of them. The people in town were accustomed to their pacifist ways, so they were quite surprised when Ford got into a fight with some bullies and won. The Amish excused him as being a cousin from Ohio. From then on, I'm sure the Ohio Amish had a bad name in Pennsylvania. This vividness effect would be used to make judgments about the Ohio Amish. Ford was hiding out from the Philadelphia police and didn't want his picture taken. So when a tourist woman insisted on taking his picture, Ford replied, "You take my picture and I'll rip out your brassiere and strangle you with it!" Obviously, the woman didn't take his picture. This unusual behavior (vividness effect) would probably cause the woman to have negative feelings about all Amish people. Ford was not really an Amish,but the woman's perception of reality was that he was. For her, Amish people are probably stereotyped as nasty.

Schemas and Stereotypes top

Stereotyping - Robert Novak says that Barack Obama is not a "stereotype African-American." So, who is, Bob? [added 4/4/08]

Illegal immigrants - "A Boise State University student group has angered area Hispanic leaders and others by promoting a speech about immigration with a "food stamp drawing" that requires climbing through a hole in a fence and offering fake identification for a shot at winning dinner at a local Mexican restaurant." [added 7/8/07]

The myth of "crack babies" [added 3/2/05]

Ethnic - Native Americans - Seinfeld Episode: Jerry attempts to suppress stereotypes about Native Americans, but he finds himself using words like "reservation." Contributed by Steve Fein. [added 4/28/02]

Names - I hate the name Marvin. I've always hated the name. It doesn't sound masculine. It sounds like his mother must have hated him. When I hear it, my schema says "spoiled brat." In my mind, there are no good cognitions associated with the name. Since I never knew a Marvin when I was growing up, I don't know why I have such strong feelings about the name. If anyone would have told me that someday I would be married to a Marvin, I would have told them they were off their rocker. But that's exactly what happened. However, I still dislike the name so much, that sometimes my mind refuses to let my mouth say it. I can't tell you how many times I've slipped and called him Norman. I have never dated a Norman, so I don't know why my mind insists on substituting that name, but it does. As you can imagine, my husband fails to see any humor in this. At any rate, my husband is a very kind and generous man. He is not at all like the schema that I continue to associate with his name. In order to maintain a feeling of consistency, and to relieve dissonance regarding the conflict between my attitude and actions, I've convinced myself that my husband is an exception to the rule.

Names - Talk about preconceived notions -- the other night I met one of my friends for a drink that I hadn't seen in a long time so we had to do a lot of catching up. Well, it turns out that my friend is dating a man named Gus. Gus is supposed to be very nice and distinguished looking. The whole time my friend was telling me how great he was all I could do is smile. She finally asked me what was wrong. I replied nothing but all I could think of was that Gus was a donkey (jackass). Now I had never met this man but I associated the name with the only Gus I have encountered. Gus was a donkey on a Walt Disney movie who kicked field goals. Since this was the only Gus I knew I was having extreme difficulty with the word "distinguished." It did not fit into my implicit personably tract. If she had said "unique," maybe even "winning," there might have been a connection of sorts.

Professions - When the news flash came on television describing Peter Fonda's stealing of a limousine in Chicago and being subsequently let go, my mind seized upon my "actor/actress schema!" I remarked to my husband: "How typical, only an actor could try something so arrogant and get away with it." I was referring to the schema with which I associate actors and actresses: snobbish, self-serving people who consider themselves to be above the law, above other people and exceptions to almost any rule. My schema also considers actors and actresses to have "overly-large egos" and lots of plastic surgery.

Professions - We went sightseeing in Vancouver using their transit system to get around. I was thoroughly impressed with Vancouver and even more so with their transit system and the people. The bus, train, and seabus are part of the same network. For a three dollar (Can. $) day pass, you can go anywhere, anytime by one of the three systems. The amazing thing for me was the bus drivers. They did not fit the schema of a bus driver. They had neat appearances, were friendly, and even thanked you when you left the bus. It was a sharp contrast to the image of the gun-carrying Chicago CTA driver. The extreme contrast to my negative image of drivers probably made them appear more friendly and helpful than they actually were. Had I not been from the Chicago area, I wonder if I'd have been so impressed.

Gender - One example which I have used in my journal entry earlier this term is my relationships with my female boss. Although I like to consider myself a non-prejudicial individual I find myself looking at gender stereotypes when I consider her management techniques. I have found her to be very moody and unpredictable. Because neither of my former supervisors at this corporation (who happened to be male) did not show any evidence of "mood management" I have drawn a conclusion that it is because of her gender. This is unfair and an antiquated view to hold but to be honest I have yet been able to shake this stereotypical view of her.

Gender - I witnessed and participated in two situations where gender-role stereotypes were brought out. My son plays on a traveling soccer team. It is a team for his age group and they play against teams from other towns around northern Illinois. We have traveled from Orland Park to the southeast to Rockford to the west. The kids on these traveling teams are supposed to be the best players of their age from the areas they live in. Last week the team my son played against had a female player. She happened to be the other team's best defensive player. It was interesting hearing the parents of the players on my son's team yell at their sons for not being able to get past that girl. They made statements like "She's only a girl, you must be able to beat her." What was most interesting was that most of the comments were made by mothers -- not fathers.

Religion - Before I married and assumed a Jewish name, I did not realize that the prejudice would be so strong. We are resented almost everywhere we go. It began with my friends. Shortly after we were married, they began to fall away. Even my children from my previous marriage feel uncomfortable around my husband, just simply because he's Jewish. My former in-laws act as if I died. They never ask the children about me and quickly change the subject if one of them mentions my name. Then there's the clerks in stores when they see my name (obviously Jewish) on my credit cards. We're all supposed to be rich, spoiled princesses. Our husbands got rich through unscrupulous business practices. Sometimes they can be very surly. The churches are not much better. They see us as Christ killers and the word "Jew" definitely bears a negative connotation. It's either hurled from the pulpit or whispered in private. I say "we" rather loosely because I'm a Christian and attend church regularly. I'm also a member of a synagogue, that I attend infrequently with my husband. I've heard a lot of snide remarks and I've learned a lot about how these people cope. They're not perfect, but I don't know anyone who is. There's a lot of truth in that old saying about walking in someone's shoes before you judge them. I've been doing it for several years now and I have quite a different perspective. Unfortunately, as long as stereotypes are perpetuated from generation to generation, few people will ever view life through a Jew's eyes and the prejudice will continue.

Sexual Orientation - Seinfeld Episode: An NYU reporter mistakenly comes to believe that Jerry and George are gay. Among other things, it illustrates that given certain expectations it is easy to find confirmation as the reporter continues to find "evidence" to support the belief. Contributed by Steve Fein. [added 4/28/02]

Judgment Biases top

Inattentional blindness - Here's a nice variation of the gorilla video example incorporated into an ad. [added 4/16/08]

Mindblindness - This short video which appears to be about a card trick is actually an interesting demonstration of mindblindness. Take a look. [added 7/15/07]

Biases in clinical intuition - interesting essay in The New Yorker [added 7/7/07]

Visual illusions related to social judgment - Some interesting videos are made available online from the Visual Cognition Lab at the University of Illinois. Actual videos used in studies of change blindness and other topics. Illustrates some social perception and expectation errors. Quicktime is required. [added 7/23/03]

Mass Delusion - interesting case of some residents of a town who "hear" a low hum. Do they? [added 6/7/02]

Belief Perseverance - The myth of "crack babies" [added 3/2/05]

Belief Perseverance - Will there be a higher than normal number of babies born nine months after the recent blackout in the Northeast? Such a myth still persists about the famous blackout of 1965. [added 11/13/03]

Confirmation Bias - More and more we are turning to news sources that agree with us. [added 5/3/08]

Confirmation Bias - Do you have a Secret Santa? Have you figured out who it is? Once you have a guess it is easy to start seeing "signs" that he/she is it. "Well, his hair is always sticking up, so who else would get me a troll doll with a clock in its stomach? He might as well have written his name on the package!" [added 12/29/06]

Confirmation bias - This brief report does a nice job of comparing some current "anti-immigrant hysteria" from Pat Buchanan to similar concerns with past immigrant groups. My colleague Heather Coon also pointed out that it illustrates how easy it is to see what you want to see. [added 12/22/06]

Confirmation Bias - "Athletes abstain from sex in quest for gold"- Illusion of causation? Confirmation bias? Or...the truth! "Team USA doctors say that there is no proof that abstaining from sex helps athletes gain an edge." On the other hand, gold medalist Chad Hedrick says, "I tried, and it is working so far, and I am going to continue doing it until I accomplish all my goals." [added 7/5/06]

Confirmation Bias - Seinfeld episode: An NYU reporter mistakenly comes to believe that Jerry and George are gay. Among other things, it illustrates that given certain expectations it is easy to find confirmation as the reporter continues to find "evidence" to support the belief. Contributed by Steve Fein. [added 4/28/02]

False consensus effect - The other day my friend exhibited the most blatant false consensus effect I've ever heard (and recognized). I don't know how we got on the subject, but we started talking about things that lots of people do but rarely acknowledge. She said, "Yeah, like when you're sitting alone in your house or something and you can imagine where you'd go and what you'd do if a robber came in!" I simply responded with a vacant stare. She replied, "What, doesn't everyone do that?" Apparently not. Later, she still claimed that lots of people do it. Double whammy: False consensus effect and belief perseverance all in one go. [Editor's note: Who was actually exhibiting the false consensus effect?] [added 4/16/08]

False consensus effect - Every single Saturday morning was dedicated to cleaning the house throughout my childhood. This was designated by my parents and we would each receive chores or a specific set of tasks that we were required to do around the house. I remember one time a friend asking me to come over to her house for a play date on a Saturday morning. I became confused, however, because I assumed that her family would participate in the same Saturday morning cleaning routine and asked if I had to help her clean if I came over. This is an example of the false consensus effect because I believed that others shared the same schedule that I did more than they actually did and was shocked to learn that not all families cleaned on Saturday mornings. [added 4/16/08]

Hindsight Bias - My oldest son has been trying to decide for several weeks whom to ask to the homecoming dance. One day he would come home and announce he was going to ask Kim. By the time we finished supper he decided to ask Jessica instead. Before bedtime he had decided to ask Sara. I think he was afraid of being turned down and just couldn't decide who was the best bet and least likely to turn him down. Finally he came home from school one day and announced he had asked Jessica to the homecoming dance. My wife immediately said "I just knew all the time she'd be the one you would ask. I would have bet money on it." If she was so sure why didn't she offer to bet. This appears to be the old I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon.

Hindsight bias - The 9-11 commission provides lots of opportunities for participants to exhibit the hindsight bias as remedies seem easier to us now. [added 6/9/04]

Hindsight Bias - Ever watched Jeopardy with someone, and after the answer is given that person says "I knew that one" or "That was an easy one"?

Illusion of causation - The Family Circus cartoon [added 12/26/07]

Illusory correlation and illusion of causation? - "Wireless technology made me sick." Ms Figes said: "The day we installed wi-fi two years ago was the day I started to feel ill. At first I could not work out what the problem was. I had no idea why I felt so sick and run-down. But I knew that when I walked through the front door it felt like walking into a cloud of poison. "Imagine being prodded all over your body by 1,000 fingers. That is what I felt when I walked into the house... Then I started to think it might be the wi-fi, so we scrapped it - and I felt better." [12/27/06]

Illusion of Causation - "Athletes abstain from sex in quest for gold"- Illusion of causation? Confirmation bias? Or...the truth! "Team USA doctors say that there is no proof that abstaining from sex helps athletes gain an edge." On the other hand, gold medalist Chad Hedrick says, "I tried, and it is working so far, and I am going to continue doing it until I accomplish all my goals." [added 7/5/06]

Illusion of Causation - When I drive to work, or for that matter, when I go anywhere and I'm in a hurry and worried that I will be late, I have a sure fire way to improve my chances of being on time. In order to put on lipstick I have to be at a red light, but every time I want to put on lipstick the traffic signals always seem to stay green. So if I am in a hurry, I always take out my lipstick because I know if I do this it will cause all of the traffic lights to be green! Is this wierd or what! I guess the "what" is illusory causation.

Illusion of Causation -- My parents have been trying to sell their house with little success. My mother finally gave into an old Catholic superstition. She buried St. Joseph (statue - of course) upside-down in the backyard! No, they have not sold it yet -- but she is waiting!

Illusion of Causation - There have been a number of times my family has received extra funds just so the car could break down. My records confirm that whenever we receive any extra cash such as tax returns, insurance settlements, even loans, one of our automobiles breaks down within a predictable interval of time. An interval that always requires a commitment of some of the newly acquired cash.

Illusion of Causation - I found myself half-believing two illusions of causation earlier this week. This is our third home. The first two homes both were sold the year after we built a deck in the back yard. This year we built a deck in the back yard of this third house. I told my husband that we'll be moving next year for sure. Building decks causes us to move. This leads on to my second illusion of causation. We have lived in three houses and I have gone through three pregnancies -- one pregnancy in each house. Therefore, since we are going to move next year, I will also be getting pregnant next year. Moving into a new house causes me to get pregnant. Then again, perhaps I could combine the two illusions into one and just state that building decks cause pregnancies. I know none of this is true, that it's all merely coincidence. (At least, I hope it is.)

Memory Distortion/Reconstruction - "For me I think the point of 'Peggy Sue' is how memory often lies. Peggy Sue is bitter that her husband left her for another woman. She's bitter about that, and she has built it up in her mind that he never loved her. But she goes back in time and she rediscovers that he really did love her. Her memory is disturbed in a valuable way by the experience. The point is that for a lot of the things we believe about our life, it would be a good idea to go back and check the facts." I found the above comments in a movie review. This reminded me of material that we covered about memory. Here is a good example of how the facts got distorted over time. Not all of us can go back in time, in fact, none of us. But if we did, I think we'd find the facts of the past different from the opinions we've created today. Some would have greater differences than others but very few would be exactly.

Overconfidence in clinical judgments - Interesting case of a man exonerated on DNA evidence. He had been convicted 21 years earlier solely on the testimony of a criminal profiler. [added 5/3/08]

Self-fulfilling prophecy - Listen to this interesting story of a mother who raised her son with Mosaic Down Syndrome without telling him or others around him that he had the disorder. Hear in this 13 minute story how not knowing about the disorder led to a variety of mostly positive interactions and interpretations of her son. To find the episode, go into the episode archives on the left frame and click "06" for 2006. Then scroll down and find episode 311 ("A better mousetrap"). Six minutes/32 seconds into Episode 311 is where this story begins. Thanks to Harry Wallace for pointing me to this resource. [added 12/29/06]

Self-fulfilling prophecy? - "Athletes abstain from sex in quest for gold"- Illusion of causation? Confirmation bias? Or...the truth! "Team USA doctors say that there is no proof that abstaining from sex helps athletes gain an edge." On the other hand, gold medalist Chad Hedrick says, "I tried, and it is working so far, and I am going to continue doing it until I accomplish all my goals." [added 7/5/06]

Decision-making

Priming and Context - Imagine you are told you will be drinking wine from California or... from North Dakota. Sure, you might prefer the California wine (even though it's the same), but you also say the food you are eating tastes better. [added 9/23/07]

Bounded rationality - This paper addresses the divergent concerns about terrorism and climate change: "The United States has responded aggressively to the risk of terrorism while doing very little about the risk of climate change." Explained in terms of bounded rationality. [added 7/5/06]

Is more choice better for decision-making? - an OpEd piece from Barry Schwartz in which he refers to research on choice in decision-making to analyze Bush's social security privitization proposal [added 3/20/05]

Heuristics - neat, simple, interactive online example of heuristics and cognitive load from Don Forsyth [added 3/6/02]