Topic:
Social Beliefs and Judgments
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new link as of June 1, 2008
Thin Slices
Decision Making
Reading Faces/Emotions
Counterfactual Thinking
Priming
Other Resources
"Out of the ordinary: Finding hidden threats by analyzing unusual behavior" - strategies for identifying important information in intelligence data, from a report from the RAND Corporation [added 12/1/04]
"Forget the polls -- here's how to forecast an election" - We are reluctant to believe in coincidence, so we often give credence or at least consider these unusual predictors. Are there more Bush or Kerry Halloween masks sold? Do the Washington Redskins win or lose their last game before the election? Could the answer foretell the election results? [added 12/1/04]
Links to sites concerning bizarre and sometimes dangerous beliefs - Subscriber David Schneider has put together an excellent set of links on cults, paranormal beliefs and other beliefs. [added 7/16/03]]
"Psychology of Intelligence Analysis" - book from the Central Intelligence Agency by Richards J. Heuer, Jr. - the study of thinking applied to intelligence work
Social cognition paper archive - abstracts of articles and links to researchers
Anthony Greenwald - variety of articles/manuscripts from Greenwald
Who's the effective CEO? - Research found that even a very brief exposure to the faces of CEOs permitted participants to distinguish between the "the successful and the not-so-successful CEOs." [added 4/6/08]
Snap judgments and politicians - Very interesting study in which participants saw pictures of two candidates running for the same race for as brief as 1/10 of a second. Participants selected the politician (though participants were not told they were politicians) they thought was more competent. When these ratings were compared with the subsequent outcomes of the political race between the two candidates the researchers found that the snap rating of competence was a very good predictor of who would win the political race. [added 12/11/07]
"Why things cost $19.95" - another interesting recap of recent research from Wray Herbert's APS blog "We're only human" [added 4/6/08]
Representative heuristic - Wikipedia comes through with a good explanation of the concept. [added 3/21/08]
Chocolate's influence on course evaluations! - You heard me. What happens if you are offered chocolate (by a complete stranger, not the instructor) before you complete an evaluation of your instructor? See what the study found. [added 12/9/07]
Risky decision-making - a good report from the 2007 APS convention on risky decision-making across the lifespan [added 11/10/07]
"How do consumers make choices..." - a recent research paper entitled, "How do consumers make choices? A summary of evidence from marketing and psychology" [added 7/8/07]
"I'll agree to do the right thing...next week" - "When making decisions a person often thinks that she should make certain choices (e.g., increasing savings, reduce gas consumption) but does not want to make them. This intrasubjective tension between 'multiple selves' has been referred to as a 'want/should' conflict. In four experiments we show that people are more likely to choose what they believe they should choose when the choice will be implemented in the future rather than implemented immediately, a tendency we refer to as 'future lock-in.'" [added 7/06/07]
When is more better? - interesting article in the APS Observer (2005) about when we perceive more to be better and by how much [added 1/14/06]
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System - tracks health risk behavior among young people - from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion - for example, see recent trends [added 7/19/02]
Jonathan Baron has made a good number of his papers available on the web related to decision-making, and, in particular, maximization of utility (good)
Bounded Rationality - article from ScienceNews (1999) on decision-making heuristics
What does a Bob (or Tim) look like? - very interesting study examining how we associate certain names with certain shaped faces, and how if a name does not match a shape it is easier to forget [added 7/19/07]
Reading faces - article on how Americans and Japanese read faces (and emoticons!) differently [added 7/19/07]
Detection of lying - interesting article in ScienceNews on current research on our ability to detect deception [added 12/1/04]
Counterfactual thinking - research site maintained by Neal Roese
"Counterfactual thinking" - (1997) Psychological Bulletin review article by Neal Roese
"Wine labels with animals on them: why they work" - interesting priming research [added 5/20/08]
Primed for spaciousness - A summary of interesting research in which participants were primed for either closeness or spaciousness and then asked to evaluate the aversiveness of different stimuli. Those primed for spaciousness or "distance" from something found the stimuli less aversive. [added 4/26/08]
Priming the unconscious - a New York Times article about the hot area of priming [added 11/10/07]
Media primes stereotypes of "asylum seekers" - This research "draws conclusions about the effects of the media on current public thoughts and behaviours regarding asylum seekers and immigrants entering the UK." [added 12/31/06]
Fear of death and political preferences - A recent article (click here to read original research) has received a lot of attention in our current (2004) U.S. election climate. Research is finding that when we are exposed to reminders of death or 9/11 we tend to favor "charismatic" leaders such as George Bush. It is also another excellent example of the power of priming. The link above is to a summary of this research recently published in the APS Observer. [added 12/1/04]
"How voters think" - An op-ed columnist uses social judgment research to analyze voters' thinking. [added 4/6/08]
"Do verbal metaphors affect what we see?" - Very interesting set of studies in which the valence of words affects our perception of shades of gray -- positive words produce "lighter" responses and negative words produce "darker" responses. [added 11/21/07]
"How culture affects the way we think" - a good report from the 2007 APS convention [added 11/10/07]
"Unreason's seductive charms" - The link is to a recent (2003) article in the Chronicle of Higher Education in which David Barash examines the appeal of certain irrationalities. Included is an interesting discussion of Leda Cosmides' research on logical reasoning using the Wason Test, comparing abstract versus social situations (e.g., cheating, deception). Further discussion of her research in an evolutionary context can be found at this site: "Evolutionary psychology: A primer". [added 3/23/04]
Common Sense - discussion of common sense, interactive T/F test on some common misperceptions such as "opposites attract" and fallacies leading to "common sense"
Connectionist Models of social reasoning - preface from a book edited by Read and Miller describing connectionist (neural network) models
Apocalyptic Beliefs - PBS Frontline show on the "evolution of apocalyptic belief and how it shaped the western world"
"Why fondness makes us poor judges, but dislike is spot-on" - Interesting study finds the false consensus effect for items we like, but less false consensus when it is about something we dislike. [added 5/20/08]Magic and misdirection - interesting article from The New York Times about magicians with a particular interest in the cognitive aspects of their work discussing inattentional blindness and other judgment processes and errors [added 11/10/07]
The Monty Hall Problem - I already have one interactive online illustration of the Monty Hall Problem on the Resources website, but here are two more good, animated illustrations and explanations. The second one is also interactive. Remarkably, the answer still remains the same! [added 7/8/07]
Monty Hall Dilemma - interactive site where students can experience the dilemma and have it explained [added 3/23/04]
Confirmation bias - Paper describes how we selectively gather our news from sources that agree with us. I don't, but apparently most of you do! [added 12/31/06]
Political bias affects brain activity - article from MSNBC [added 2/22/06]
Cognitive biases among professional athletes - A research report from the Social Science Research Network entitled, "It's not about the money: The role of preferences, cognitive biases and heuristics among professional athletes" -- scroll to bottom of page to download/view paper [added 1/11/06]
Forensic "science" - I can't recommend this series enough. This five-part series recently published by the Chicago Tribune does a fantastic job of exposing the lack of scientific support for many forensic techniques such as fingerprinting, arson investigation, and firearm and bite mark identification. It also describes quite well how the justice system and juries so easily fall for the claims of supposed "experts," how they became "experts," and why it is so easy for many of them engage in confirmation bias and belief perseverance. [added 12/1/04]
The forgotten origins of the self-serving bias - Probably like most of you, I assumed that the self-serving bias had been part of human nature for as long as, well, we've been humans. But, with a little digging, I discovered it's a relatively new phenomenon! [added 12/1/04]
Superstitions - a very large collection of superstitions [added 12/1/04]
"What do job interviews really tell us?" - informative essay about snap judgments in an interview setting [added 11/20/03]
Errors in business and diplomacy - more examples of judgment errors and overconfidence from mathematician John Allen Paulos [added 11/11/03]
Power of coincidence - interesting essay from David Myers [added 2/4/03]
Extrasensory perception - also from David Myers, a nice research-based analysis of claims of ESP [added 2/4/03]
"Risky Business" - nice article (2000) from Skeptical Inquirer on the vividness effect and the media [added 12/3/02]
The hot hand effect - this blog, from Alan Reifman, is devoted to the phenomenon of the "streaky" shooter/hitter - it includes a description of and links to research and researchers of this possible illusion [added 6/13/02]
"Do we Fear the Right Things?" - essay from David Myers published in the APS Observer on judgment biases related to the events of September 11, 2001
"Mass delusions and hysterias" - description of many such cases over the last millennium - from the Skeptical Enquirer
"The certainty epidemic" - an article on the neurobiology of belief [added 4/26/08]
"The constructive value of overconfidence" - I knew I was right, being overconfident is not all that bad. Told you. [added 4/6/08]
"The danger of knowing for sure" - excellent essay published the day after the recent terrorist attacks by Peter Bowditch that links these events with certainty of beliefs - also includes a nice distinction between skepticism and cynicism
"Why bad beliefs don't die" - interesting essay on why we are biologically designed to be resistant to change - from the Skeptical Enquirer
Humor can perpetuate stereotypes and discrimination - [added 12/16/07]
"Behavior detection officers" - Interesting blog about officials "introduced to US airports who have been trained to pick out potential terrorists by analysing, at least in part, facial expressions." [added 11/10/07]
Media primes stereotypes of "asylum seekers" - This research "draws conclusions about the effects of the media on current public thoughts and behaviours regarding asylum seekers and immigrants entering the UK." [added 12/31/06]
"I can instantly tell whether...blackdar" - an amusing article from the satirical online newspaper The Onion [added 12/31/06]
"Is 'dumb jock' an accurate stereotype?" - The husband and wife team of the excellent blog, "Cognitive Daily," reviews some evidence to answer this question. [added 12/27/06]
Study of violence by former mental health patients - interesting study conducted by the MacArthur Research Network asking "How does the rate of violence by former mental patients compare with the rate of violence by other members of the community?" [added 7/23/03]
Criminal profiling - Swiss Criminal Profiling Scientific Research Site - contains articles, types of profiling, case analyses and more [added 12/2/02]
Two criminal profiling approaches - interesting article (1999) contrasting the two [added 12/2/02]
Find Hidden Bias - the Southern Poverty Law Center has put together an extensive website (Tolerance.org) that includes this series of Implicit Association Tests revealing possible biases towards Arab Muslims, Asian Americans, body image and more - explore the entire site; a lot of interesting examples and material
"Muslim Life in America" - As you know, the U.S. government has made several attempts to distinguish between a "war" on terrorism versus a war against Arabs or Muslims. Additionally, it has tried to discourage discrimination towards Arab Americans and Muslims. Here is another such attempt using education.
100 Questions and Answers about Arab-Americans - from the Detroit Free Press - Obviously, stereotyping has been evident since the events of September 11, 2001 - Perhaps sites like this one can help reduce some of our simplistic perceptions
Are repressed memories a cultural phenomenon? - This article discusses an investigation of whether reports of repressed memory could even be found in the historical record before 1800. In fact, the researchers posted a $1000 challenge to anyone who could find any such evidence. The article notes that the $1000 was finally awarded to a 1786 account. [added 4/6/08]
Manipulating images affects memory - [added 3/21/08]
Brain waves distinguish false memories from real ones - [added 12/21/07]
"Recent advances in false memory research" - a good report from the 2007 APS convention [added 11/10/07]
"False beliefs about fattening foods can have healthy consequences" - Here is a popular press story of a recently published article by Loftus and colleagues in which they use a false feedback technique to convince dieters that they don't like strawberry ice cream. [added 1/8/06]
Accuracy of flashbulb memories - report about a recently published article entitled, "President Bush's False Flashbulb Memory of 9/11/01" [added 12/1/04]
False Memory Syndrome Foundation [added 3/23/04]
False memory and brain activity - very interesting finding that accurate recall activates appropriate sensory area in brain but false memories do not [added 3/23/04]
Recovered Memories and "Alien Abductees"
Research press release
Summary of research
Some fascinating research has been conducted recently relating the experiences of people claiming to be alien abductees to the research on recovered memories. The first link above is a press release on that research. The second link is a paper that summarizes some of that research. [added 12/11/02]Guidelines for Psychologists Addressing Recovered Memories - a publication of the Canadian Psychological Association (1996)
"Innocence Lost: The Plea" - PBS Frontline show on the case of preschool workers in North Carolina accused of child sexual abuse
Eyewitness errors - web site associated with PBS' Frontline show "What Jennifer Saw" - interviews, cases and more
Resources for the Teaching of Social Psychology is a part of the CROW Project, Course Resources on the Web. CROW is sponsored by the Associated Colleges of Illinois and generously supported by UPS. This site was created by Jon Mueller, Professor of Psychology at North Central College, Naperville, IL. Send comments to Jon.
