Learn Before
Based on the provided context, identify and define the specific cognitive tendency demonstrated by the student researcher. Explain how the student's actions of remembering only the failing cases and disregarding the passing cases fit the definition of this tendency as described in psychological research methods.
Case context: A student researcher is investigating the relationship between studying late at night and academic performance. They believe that late-night studying is always detrimental. During their research, they vividly remember and document three students who studied late and failed their exams, while completely forgetting or overlooking five other students who studied late and received A grades. Consequently, the student concludes that their initial belief is correct.
Question: Based on the provided context, identify and define the specific cognitive tendency demonstrated by the student researcher. Explain how the student's actions of remembering only the failing cases and disregarding the passing cases fit the definition of this tendency as described in psychological research methods.
Sample answer: The student researcher is demonstrating confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is the cognitive tendency to selectively focus on cases that validate pre-existing intuitive beliefs (remembering only the failing cases) while actively disregarding or forgetting cases that disconfirm them (overlooking the students who got A grades).
Key points:
- Identify the phenomenon as confirmation bias.
- Define confirmation bias as selectively focusing on validating cases and disregarding/forgetting disconfirming cases.
- Map the student's behavior (remembering failing students) to validating cases and their behavior (forgetting A-grade students) to disregarding disconfirming cases.
Rubric: The response must correctly identify the cognitive tendency as confirmation bias, recall its definition (focusing on validating cases while disregarding or forgetting disconfirming cases), and accurately link the student's behavior to this definition.
0
1
Tags
KPU
Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU
Related
Myside bias
Autobiographical Memory
Motivated confirmation bias
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates confirmation bias?
Which of the following behaviors is an example of confirmation bias?
Which of the following statements best describes confirmation bias?
Which of the following actions is an example of confirmation bias?
Professor's Behavior as an Example of Confirmation Bias
Confirmation Bias as a Reinforcer of Stereotypes
Talkative Women as an Example of Confirmation Bias
In the context of scientific research, what does confirmation bias refer to?
A psychology student strongly believes that listening to classical music improves exam performance. When reviewing research articles on the topic, she thoroughly reads and remembers the studies showing a benefit of classical music but skims past studies showing no effect. This selective pattern of attending to evidence is an example of confirmation bias.
A psychology researcher is investigating whether a new mindfulness-based therapy reduces anxiety. During the study, the researcher exhibits several behaviors. Match each behavior to the specific component of confirmation bias it represents.
A participant in a psychological study is shown the number sequence '2-4-6' and asked to discover the underlying rule. Arrange the following steps to reflect the logical progression of confirmation bias in their reasoning process.
A researcher evaluating the effectiveness of a new behavioral intervention for anxiety focuses exclusively on the cases where patients showed improvement, while dismissing patients who did not improve as 'not following the protocol correctly.' This flawed assessment, which prioritizes data that supports the researcher's initial hypothesis while disregarding contradictory evidence, is a hallmark of __________ bias.
Suppose you are tasked with synthesizing a new 'Bias-Resistant Protocol' for an undergraduate psychology lab investigating the effects of social media on self-esteem. To construct a methodology that specifically targets and minimizes the risk of confirmation bias throughout the research process, which of the following configurations of study features should you implement?
Confirmation bias is best characterized as a deliberate, conscious choice to hide contradictory evidence from others, rather than an automatic cognitive tendency.
A student researcher believes that people who sleep at least 8 hours per night always outperform others on cognitive tasks. During data collection and write-up, the researcher engages in several behaviors. Match each behavior to the component of confirmation bias it best illustrates.
A researcher studying whether a new teaching method improves exam scores collects a dataset containing results that both support and contradict their hypothesis. The researcher devotes substantially more time to analyzing supportive cases and dismisses contradictory outcomes as 'outliers' without any statistical justification. Unlike random measurement error, which affects data unpredictably, this pattern introduces a non-random, directional distortion — the researcher's pre-existing belief consistently filters which evidence is retained and which is discarded. The cognitive mechanism responsible for this systematic distortion is called _____.
Evaluate how confirmation bias affects a researcher's ability to conduct objective psychological research, specifically focusing on the scientific and ethical consequences of selectively focusing on validating cases while disregarding disconfirming evidence. In your evaluation, discuss how this bias compromises the validity of scientific conclusions.
Based on the provided context, identify and define the specific cognitive tendency demonstrated by the student researcher. Explain how the student's actions of remembering only the failing cases and disregarding the passing cases fit the definition of this tendency as described in psychological research methods.
Explain in your own words how confirmation bias acts as a 'mental shortcut' and describe the primary consequence this shortcut has on an individual's pre-existing assumptions.