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Article 1: Dale, S. (2015). Heuristics and biases: The science of decision-making. Business Information Review, 32(2), 93-99.

Summary: The article discusses Kahneman’s theory of dual process, system 1 and system 2 cognitions as well as commonly used heuristics including the representativeness and availability heuristic. The article further discusses the psychological basis of heuristics as well as errors that can result from their use.

Learning Objective: Heuristics (Representativeness and Availability)

Questions to Consider

1. Why are heuristics considered a part of System 1 thinking?
2. Describe two additional heuristics from the article and how they can produce errors in thinking.
3. Compare the results from the survey that assessed the most feared ways to die with the actual leading causes of death. Why are these results so different?
    

Article 2: Knobloch-Westerwick, S., & Kleinman, S. B. (2012). Preelection selective exposure: Confirmation bias versus informational utility. Communication Research, 39(2), 170-193.

Summary: The article discusses differences between the use of confirmation bias and informational utility in selective exposure to internet articles preceding an election. The authors hypothesized that when a person’s political party was expected to win, they would use a confirmation bias in selecting which articles to attend to but if their political party was not expected to win, they would use informational utility in selecting articles to attend to. Consistent with their predictions, since Democrats were expected to win, liberals used a confirmation bias in selecting articles to attend to, whereas conservatives used informational utility in focusing on articles that were consistent with the opposition’s stance on issues. The article promotes discussion on the situations that may lead to confirmation bias compared to informational utility

Learning Objective: Humans want to Confirm Hypotheses

Questions to Consider

1. What is the difference between confirmation bias and informational utility?
2. In their article, what do the authors posit as the cause of people using a confirmation bias compared to informational utility?
3. Consider more recent elections since the 2008 election. What predictions can be made regarding which political leaning was likely to use a confirmation bias versus informational utility?
    

Article 3: Donovan, S. M., O’Rourke, M., & Looney, C. (2015). Your hypothesis or mine? Terminological and conceptual variation across disciplines. SAGE Open, 5(2), 1-13.

Summary: The authors discuss the challenges of the use of scientific terms among different disciplines participating in cross-disciplinary research (CDR). Using teambuilding workshops, the authors examined how different definitions and assumptions about the definition and use of hypotheses in research can lead to problems in CDR efforts.

Learning Objective: The Difference Between a Law, a Theory, and a Hypothesis

Questions to Consider

1. What is CDR? Why it is a particularly important type of research at universities and institutions?
2. What is the definition of a hypothesis in psychology? How are they used in psychology?
3. How can the use and definitions of hypotheses in different disciplines create confusion among people these different disciplines? What tips could be offered in teams of researchers from different disciplines that are conducting CDR?