Cognitive Bias

Tracing decision processes in complex, ambiguous, information-rich environments.

by Nicole Weeks

Weeks, N. J., Wastell, C. A., Taylor, A. J., Wearing, A. J., & Duncan, P. (2011).  Tracing decision processes in complex, ambiguous, information-rich environments. International Journal of Psychological Studies, 4(1), 158-173.

In order to understand analytic processes in organisations, better tools are required to trace decision processes. An... more In order to understand analytic processes in organisations, better tools are required to trace decision processes. An impediment to progress in this area has been the tendency to over-simplify inherently complex information environments or the data that they produce. We address this issue by providing worked examples from the Analysis Simulation Project (ASP). ASP methodology consists of a computer-administered information grid of 64 cells of 50-130 words each. The information accessing activity of participants is recorded. Our results present novel approaches to maintaining optimal complexity in environmental representation and data analysis. Specifically we demonstrate how computer-mediated process tracing methods can simulate the cognitive experience of complexity and how the data can be used to examine behaviour at increasing levels of complexity. We conclude that computer-mediated process-tracing tools provide an opportunity to comprehensively model complex information processing behaviour and therefore allow improved insight into phenomena with similar outcomes but distinct processes.

How do social fears in adolescence develop? Fear conditioning shapes attention orienting to social threat cues.

by Anneke Haddad

Haddad, A. D. M., Lissek, S., Pine, D. S., & Lau, J. Y. F. (2011). How do social fears in adolescence develop? fear conditioning shapes attention orienting to social threat cues. Cognition and Emotion, 25(6), 1139-1147.

Social fears emerging in adolescence can have negative effects on emotional well-being. Yet the mechanisms by which... more Social fears emerging in adolescence can have negative effects on emotional well-being. Yet the mechanisms by which these risks occur are unknown. One possibility is that associative learning results in fears to previously neutral social stimuli. Such conditioned responses may alter subsequent processing of social stimuli. We used a novel conditioning task to examine how associative processes influence social fear and attention orienting in adolescents. Neutral photographs were paired with socially rewarding or aversive stimuli during conditioning; a dot-probe task then assessed biases in attention orienting. The social conditioning task modified subjective ratings of the neutral stimuli. Moreover, for the neutral stimulus that was paired with the aversive stimulus, the strength of conditioning showed a relationship with subsequent attentional vigilance. The findings elucidate mechanisms by which negative peer experiences during adolescence may affect emotional processing.

Low-dose tryptophan depletion in recovered depressed women induces impairments in autobiographical memory specificity

by Anneke Haddad

Haddad, A. D. M., Williams, J. M. G., McTavish, S. F. B., & Harmer, C. J. (2009, December). Low-dose tryptophan depletion in recovered depressed women induces impairments in autobiographical memory specificity.. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 207(3), 499-508.

Background: Depressed patients perform poorly on tests of autobiographical memory specificity (AMS); this may have... more Background: Depressed patients perform poorly on tests of autobiographical memory specificity (AMS); this may have negative consequences for other important cognitive abilities, delays recovery from mood episodes, and, in recovered patients, may mediate vulnerability to future episodes. Although the cognitive mechanisms underlying AMS deficits are beginning to be understood, the neurobiological mechanisms remain unclear. Serotonin is implicated in both depression and long-term memory; therefore, temporary lowering of brain serotonin function via acute tryptophan depletion (ATD) offers a means of studying the role of serotonin in autobiographical memory specificity.

Materials and methods: In this study, 24 previously depressed women underwent low-dose ATD or sham depletion and completed tests of initial and delayed memory, recollection- and familiarity-based recognition, and AMS.

Results: ATD did not differentially affect state mood. Compared with sham depletion, ATD impaired immediate recall on the Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Although ATD did not differentially impair recollection- and familiarity-based recognition, it did slow recognition of positive words. ATD also reduced autobiographical memory specificity in response to negative cue words.

Discussion: The results confirm previous findings that low-dose ATD can reinstate depression-congruent biases in cognition without causing depressive mood in vulnerable populations. The ATD-induced reduction in memory specificity suggests that serotonergic dysfunction may mediate depressive deficits in autobiographical memory; the interaction of cognitive and neurobiological vulnerability mechanisms is discussed.

Disrupted Regulation of Social Exclusion in Alcohol-Dependence: An fMRI Study

by Alexandre Heeren

Maurage, P., Joassin, F., Philippot, P., Heeren, A., Vermeulen, N., Mahau, P., Delperdange, C., Corneille, O., Luminet, O., & de Timary, P. (in press). Disrupted regulation of social exclusion in alcohol-dependence: An fMRI study. Neuropsychopharmacology.

The effects of mindfulness on executive processes and autobiographical memory specificity

by Alexandre Heeren

Heeren, A., Van Broeck, N., & Philippot, P. (2009). The effects of mindfulness training on executive processes and autobiographical memory specificity. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 47, 403-409.

Changes in ruminative thinking mediate the clinical benefits of mindfulness: Preliminary findings

by Alexandre Heeren

Heeren, A. & Philippot, P. (2011). Changes in ruminative thinking mediate the clinical benefits of mindfulness: Preliminary findings. Mindfulness, 2, 8-13.

How does attention training work in social phobia: Disengagement from threat or re-engagement to non-threat?

by Alexandre Heeren

Heeren, A., Lievens, L., & Philippot, P. (2011). How does attention training work in social phobia: Disengagement from threat or reengagement to non-threat? Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 25, 1108-1115.

Attention Training Toward and Away from Threat in Social Phobia: Effects on Subjective, Behavioral, and Physiological Measures of Anxiety

by Alexandre Heeren

Heeren, A., Reese, H., McNally, R. J., & Philippot, P. (2012). Atttention training toward and away from threat in social phohia: Effects on behavioral, subjective, and physiological measures of anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50, 30-39

The Causal Role of Attentional Bias for Threat Cues in Social Anxiety: A Test on a Cyber-Ostracism Task

by Alexandre Heeren

Heeren, A., Peschard, V., & Philippot, P. (in press). The causal role of attentional bias to threat cues in social anxiety: A test on a cyber-ostracism task. Cognitive Therapy and Research.

A Bayesian case-controls exploration of the malleability of attentional bias for threat in social phobia

by Alexandre Heeren

Heeren, A., Maurage, P., & Philippot, P. (in press). A Bayesian case-controls exploration of the malleability of attentional bias for threat in social phobia. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy.

Genetic essentialism: On the deceptive determinism of DNA.

by Ilan Dar-Nimrod

Dar-Nimrod, I., & Heine, S. J. (2011). Genetic essentialism: On the deceptive determinism of DNA. Psychological Bulletin, 137(5), 800-818.

Do I have more free will than you do?

by Brian Earp

Earp, B. D. (2011). Do I have more free will than you do? An unexpected asymmetry in intuitions about personal freedom. New School Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 9, No. 21, 34-40.

The present research explores the relationship between moral evaluations and intuitions about the causes of human... more The present research explores the relationship between moral evaluations and intuitions about the causes of human behavior, in particular freedom of the will. Two studies test for a self-serving bias in intuitions about free will. Study 1 explores whether individuals may seek to exculpate themselves from wrongdoing by denying free will, while justifying blame of others by endorsing free will. Study 2 explores whether individuals may justify personal failures by denying free will, while taking credit for personal successes by endorsing free will. In neither study do the data show the predicted differences between conditions. However, an unexpected finding is reported. By pooling the data from both experiments and collapsing across conditions, it is shown that participants give greater endorsement of free will whenever actions are described from a first-person, instead of third-person, perspective—a tentative “I have more free will than you do” effect. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed, as are avenues for further research on this topic.

Evidence for a cognitive bias of interpretation toward threat in individuals with a Type D personality

by Delphine Grynberg

Grynberg, D., Gidron, Y., Denollet, J., & Luminet, O. (2011)

Biological and behavioral mediators link Type D personality with a poor prognosis in heart disease. However, the... more Biological and behavioral mediators link Type D personality with a poor prognosis in heart disease. However, the mediator role of cognitive biases is still unknown. This study tested whether Type D individuals exhibit an interpretative bias for ambiguous social situations. For this aim we examined Type D and non-Type D individuals’ evaluations of written social situations that varied in terms of situations’ clarity (clear, ambiguous) and social judgment (neutral, negative). A convenience sample of 42 young, healthy adults rated each situation in relation to the difficulty of formulating a verbal response, anticipated distress, and perceived threat, and they completed the Type D personality scale (DS14; Denollet, 2005). Results showed an interpretation bias among Type D individuals, as they rated ambiguous or neutral situations as significantly more distressing compared to non-Type D individuals. Only clearly negative situations were rated similarly by Type D and non-Type D individuals. The discussion suggests that this interpretation bias in Type D individuals would increase their vulnerability to perceived stress.

Investigating the valence and saliency of commonly used smoking-related words in adolescent and adult smokers and non-smokers

by Louise Hopper

Co-authored with Dr. Michael Gormley, Trinity College Dublin; Presented at PSI Annual Conference, 2011

The extent to which positive and negative cues capture attention is routinely debated yet stimuli used in... more The extent to which positive and negative cues capture attention is routinely debated yet stimuli used in addiction-related tasks often disregard valence. In this study, 36 commonly used smoking-related words were rated for valence and saliency by 84 smokers (age 15-18: 28, 19-25: 27, 26-40: 29), and 93 non-smokers (35, 29, 29). All smokers rated smoking words more positively than non-smokers. There was no difference for salience. Analysis of the 10 most positive and 10 most negative words revealed a main effect of smoking status for each. While there was no effect of age for non-smokers, adolescent smokers rated smoking-positive, but not negative, words significantly more positively than both adult groups. Results suggest that smokers’ demonstrate a positivity bias towards smoking-related words, notably positive words, which declines with age. This bias is likely to confound results unless controlled for. Future research should investigate the extent of this impact on implicit smoking tasks.

Keywords: Nicotine, Stimulus Creation, Valence, Cognitive Bias

The Beauty (and Darkness- No Need for Bias Here) of Language

by Poppy Valentine

This thought paper walks through some positive and negative aspects of language- verbal, written & symbolic-... more This thought paper walks through some positive and negative aspects of language- verbal, written & symbolic- depending on their employment & interpretation. This paper also provides advise on how one can become a more effective practitioner of language.

Decision-making biases and information systems

by marita turpin

Let's find the evidence: an analogue study of confirmation bias in criminal investigations

by Anita Eerland

Biased evaluation of incriminating and exonerating (non) evidence

by Anita Eerland

Précis of C. Behan McCullagh's “Bias in Historical Description, Interpretation, and Explanation.”

by David G Terrell

Précis of C. Behan McCullagh's “Bias in Historical Description, Interpretation, and Explanation.”
The postmodern... more Précis of C. Behan McCullagh's “Bias in Historical Description, Interpretation, and Explanation.”
The postmodern historical paradigm posits that historians frame their histories in a subjective context and, through predilection, misinterpretation, unfair omission, or erroneous inferences, produce accidentally misleading (“mistaken”) or intentionally incorrect (“biased”) interpretations of the past. McCullagh, after drawing a distinction between personal and cultural bias, argues that histories free from personal bias (at least) are both desirable and possible, given the application of “rational standards of historical inquiry” and the cooperative criticism inherent in open peer review.

Unconscious mental processes and the racial achievement gap

by Brian Earp

Earp, B.D. (2010). Automaticity in the classroom: Unconscious mental processes and the racial achievement gap. Journal of Multiculturalism in Education, Vol 6 No 1, 1-22.