Cognition PSYC3466 Psychology Coursework Writing Assignment

Cognition PSYC3466
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Question 3
Confirmation bias a type of systematic error and cognitive bias resulting from inductive thinking. It is the propensity to interpret, recall, favor and search for information in a manner that it brings out the preexisting hypotheses or beliefs. For instance, let’s say that friends A and B have an ambivalent relationship. Friend A tries to reach friend B via mail, or phone messages but in return receive no response. Due to such a situation, friend A would in an intuitive manner jump into conclusions easily that friend B is avoiding them. This is an example of confirmatory bias.
Confirmation bias influences humans adversely. It affects decision making negatively. For the case above, friend A would easily go on their way knowing that they have been avoided. It affects the way of gathering information for the case of researchers. Instead of gathering what is observed, the research would record what they believe. Confirmatory bias hinders people from experiencing new things.
Question 5
Humans are made irrational, and that has taken the better part of our decision making. ‘Hot hand' is a fallacy that makes us believe that if luck got you one time, then it will follow you the next time. This explains the reason why I stopped gambling. I am not saying that gambling is good, in fact, people should avoid it. One evening at a casino, I flipped a certain coin and guess what, I got it right. My team won all the sums of money approximately $ 300,000. This was the first round. Instead of allowing another gambler from our team to take over on the second and third rounds, I convinced the team that I wa...