Team Project in Psychology: Cognitive Illusions
Team Project in Psychology: Cognitive IllusionsAkhil Dondapati,
Kendall Liang, Rose Maisner, Kali Rigby, Zachary Rissman, Cailey
Talbot, Ralph Tancredi Jr., David Tong, Asrita Vattikonda, Amy
Vonder Haar, Alan Zhang
Advisor: Patrick O. Dolan, Ph.DAssistant: Stephanie Hojsakso I
laughed out loud when I saw this... but it can't stay :)this slide
should discuss the guise of a personality testmaybe sub-bullet
saying "PEN" types or whateverCan speak about the hypothesis. No
need to write it.is this slide to be presented only verbally?What
is Cognition?Our brains mental
processesThoughtMemoryPerceptionBehaviorJudgement
Lower-level thinkingBasic perception, attention, and memory
Higher-level thinkingReasoning, comprehension, and
significance
David: In psychology, cognition is the mental processing that
governs how humans think, perceive, remember, and judge certain
stimuli and information. Simply put, cognition to a human is
analogous to the working gears and parts that make up a machine.
These gears generate what we define as: language, thought, memory,
executive function (the ability to plan and carry out tasks),
judgment, attention, perception, remembered skills such as driving,
and the ability to live a purposeful life.
Cognition can be thought of in two ways: lower level cognition
and higher level cognition. Lower level cognition is essentially
our ability to perceive and recall various stimuli. However, higher
level cognition is our ability to reason, comprehend, and give
significance to what we perceive. For example, when we see this
series of words here, our lower level cognition would perceive Im
1, 2, 3 U. However, if we think about this a little more, we can
read between the lines and interpret it as Im counting on you. This
is our higher level cognition at work.HypothesisLower-level,
perceptual illusions should fool all participants equallyHigher
cognition tasks should give NJGSS scholars an edgeGeneral
MethodsParticipants73 NJGSS scholars71 MTurk
participantsMaterials:Qualtrics surveyDesign:17 cognitive
tasksPersonality questionsDistribution:Monitored sessions
(NJGSS)Independently (MTurk)
Akhil:We had two main groups of participants that partook in our
survey. The first group, as you probably know, was all of you, 73
NJGSS scholars. The other group was 71 individuals from the Amazon
Mechanical Turk, MTurk. MTurk is an internet marketplace that
allows people to perform various tasks, in our case surveys. Their
average age range was between 26 and 30 years old. To conduct the
study, we needed to create an online survey. We used Qualtrics, a
private software company that allows users to perform online data
collection. Our survey included 17 different cognitive tasks that
tested perception, memory, and attention and that were randomly
distributed throughout it. We will only be presenting a few of the
17 tasks though. In order to maintain the guise of a personality
test, the survey also had filler questions related to psychoticism,
extraversion, neuroticism, and social desirability. As you know, we
administered the test to you scholars on July 19th during four
different sessions. Each session lasted about 20 minutes and was
monitored by members of our team project. To test the general
population, we uploaded the survey onto MTurk and rewarded
participants $1 upon completion of the survey.
McGurk EffectWhat do you hear?
McGurk Effect
pd says: I swapped in the same figure with bars reversed- sorry!
It is much easier to explain the findings this way. Crummy quality
- might want to re-do - see mturk data file.
the comparison of interest is the similarity of the njgs to
mturk data Fa video is overall lower than ba, but that makes
sense). Otherwise both groups responding largely the same. njgss
seems slightly lower overall than mturk, particularly the ba video
(when it really was ba!) hint that only difference is njgss more
skeptical, critically evaluate, cautious, etc.False
MemoryRecollection of non-existent eventsList of wordsRelated to
unstudied critical word
False Memory15 medical words Critical word: doctorPersonality
testHypothesis: NJGSS scholars are just as susceptible to false
memoryFalse MemoryResults confirmed hypothesisNJGSS scholars just
as likely to recall doctorBut scholars better at remembering
correct words
Falsely recalled Doctor% of Correctly recalled Words (out of
15)NJGSS55%42%General Public56%34%pd says - very nice. But it looks
too much like we simply pasted it from excel data file :)Intuitive
PhysicsNaive theoriesPredict ball trajectory
Intuitive PhysicsResults: Answered CorrectlyTaken a Physics
CourseNJGSS70%73%General Public35%45%
pd says: I looked at performance broken down by physics
background and predictably, those who took it did better than those
who didnt. Interesting though, even for those who didnt take
physics, njgss was way ahead of mturk 50% vs. 33%. heck, njgss
without physics performed better than mturk with physics (38%)
2nd most popular choice in Gov School: tie b/w C and D2nd most
popular choice in gen. pop. : CAs you can see, NJGSS scholars did
very well on this task in comparison to the MTurk participants. 70%
of Gov School students chose the correct answer, A, and predicted
that the ball would follow a parabolic path. However, only 35% of
MTurk participants answered correctly. In this task, here is a
clear correlation between performance and completion of a physics
course. This makes sense because those who have not completed a
physics course must rely on their intuitive physics to answer the
question. As states previously, ones intuitive physics is generally
flawed and leads him/her to the wrong answer. However, if one has
taken a physics course, he/she can use previous, concrete knowledge
and will most likely answer the question correctly.
AnchoringCognitive BiasDecision-makingMaking estimationsInitial
Value: AnchorAnchoring-and-adjustingInsufficientAnchoringWas Gandhi
older or younger than 9 when he died?Was Gandhi older or younger
than 140 when he died?Anchoring
pd says- we really need to do stats on these and the
next.AnchoringIs the mean temperature in Tanzania higher or lower
than 51F?Is the mean temperature in Tanzania higher or lower than
106F?Anchoring
Moses IllusionA subtly distorted questionNo correct answerMost
plausible explanation: assume what question is askingOther possible
explanations
The Moses illusion is a question that is intentionally, yet
subtly, distorted to make the sentence somewhat unanswerable. This
was first discovered by Erikson and Mattson in 1981. The most
common example of this is asking the question, How many animals of
each kind did Moses bring onto the ark? In this example, most
people answer 2, even though they know that Noah brought animals
onto the ark, not Moses. There are three main possible explanations
for this phenomenon: 1. The participant notices the mistake, but
perceives it as a typo and assumes that the tester meant the
correct term. The subject therefore answers the question as if
there were no mistakes. 2. The participant begins reading the
question, thinks that they understand which direction it is going,
and therefore does not realize the mistaken word.3. The participant
incorrectly retrieves a memory, knowing that there were two animals
of each kind brought onto the ark, but disregards or or does not
actually consider who brought the animals. With Moses and Noah
being so similar in context, a subject may not care that much about
who brought the animals onto the ark, but only about what the
question was asking.Moses IllusionIntroduced section as lightning
roundTwo straightforward, easy questionsRandom selection of one of
two questions:What shape has a circumference of r2?What is the name
of the man in the red suit and long white beard who rides a sleigh
and gives out birthday presents?
We introduced the Moses illusion section of the personality test
as a lightning round, telling participants to move quickly in order
to prevent the rereading of questions, which would skew the
results. First, we primed the participant by asking two very easy
and straightforward questions. The two questions were: How many
sides does a pentagon have? and What element has the symbol He?
Then, we presented one of two [Moses illusion] questions randomly
selected by the program. One of these questions was, What shape has
a circumference of r2? For this question, the most expected answer
was circle, even though no shape has a circumference of r2. The
other question was, What is the name of the man in the red suit and
long white beard who rides a sleigh and gives out birthday
presents? The expected answer for this question was Santa Claus,
even though Santa gives out Christmas presents, rather than
birthday presents. This survey was presented to both NJGSS scholars
and MTurk participants (who represent the general population). The
hypothesis is that NJGSS scholars will catch the mistake in the
math-related question more often than the general population will,
but that both groups will fall for the illusion equally in response
to the question hinting at Santa Claus.
Moses IllusionSanta Question: General Public: 72% mistakenly
answered SantaNJGSS scholars: 76% mistakenly answered SantaCircle
Question:General Public: 68% mistakenly answered circleNJGSS
scholars: 28% mistakenly answered circleConclusion
The results show that for the Santa question, the NJGSS scholars
and general population participants scored very similarly, with 24%
of NJGSS Scholars catching the mistake in the question and 28% of
the general population catching the mistake. However, the results
show that for the circle problem, NJGSS scholars scored much better
than the general population did, with 72% of NJGSS scholars
catching the mistake, compared to only 32% of the general
population. The data also shows that NJGSS scholars are much less
susceptible to trick questions having to do with math or science,
as opposed to general knowledge questions. However, the general
public scored very similarly on both the general knowledge question
and the math/science question. This result shows that NJGSS
Scholars have much stronger science skills and perception than the
general population.Lake Wobegon EffectAlso known as Illusory
Superiority
Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the
men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.
Mathematically impossible!
Illusory superiority is the natural human tendency to
overestimate our own abilities and underestimate our own flaws
relative to others.It is also known simply as the Lake Wobegon
Effect, named after Garrison Keillors (Key-ler) fictional town,
where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and
all the children are above average.There is a problem with this
statement.It is mathematically impossible for everyone to be above
average. There must be a median in order for people to be above or
below average. (people who are below and average?)
Lake Wobegon Effect
This was the aspect of the survey that tested (the Lake Wobegon
Effect?) whether or not NJGSS scholars would be more or less
susceptible to this cognitive illusion compared to the general
public. We asked you to rate yourself on a scale of 1-5 (mention
that 3 is average) on various skills compared to the other NJGSS
scholars. (List some skills.)Lake Wobegon Effect
This graph shows the percentage of participants who rated
themselves above, below, or average, across all categories, in each
participating group. (Point to blue region.) More NJGSS scholars
ranked themselves above average than the general population tested
on MTurk. Conversely, less NJGSS scholars ranked themselves below
average. Statistically, there was a clear difference in the two
groups performance on this task.
Lake Wobegon EffectNJGSS Scholars are more susceptible to the
Lake Wobegon Effect than the general public.Theories? NJGSS
Scholars are more susceptible to the Lake Wobegon Effect than the
general population.One reason could be that the skills chosen were
skills geared towards the strengths of NJGSS scholars, rather than
skills that both groups would have equal capabilities in. You were
probably more focused on your own strengths, rather than how you
related to the other scholars. Personality Typesyoure probably all
wondering what about your personality type and what it means. there
are three different typesthis is type fba, type abf, and type
bfaType FBAYou have a need for other people to like and admire you,
and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some
personality weaknesses, you are able to compensate for them with
your strengths. You have considerable unused capacity that you have
not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on
the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside.
At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the
right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount
of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by
restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an
independent thinker; and do not accept others' statements without
satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in
revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted,
affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted,
wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations may seem unrealistic
but you have a strong motivation and drive.
Type ABFYou have a need for other people to like and admire you,
and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some
personality weaknesses, you are able to compensate for them with
your strengths. You have considerable unused capacity that you have
not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on
the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside.
At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the
right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount
of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by
restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an
independent thinker; and do not accept others' statements without
satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in
revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted,
affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted,
wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations may seem unrealistic
but you have a strong motivation and drive.
Type BFAYou have a need for other people to like and admire you,
and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some
personality weaknesses, you are able to compensate for them with
your strengths. You have considerable unused capacity that you have
not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on
the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside.
At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the
right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount
of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by
restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an
independent thinker; and do not accept others' statements without
satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in
revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted,
affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted,
wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations may seem unrealistic
but you have a strong motivation and drive.
Forer EffectNJGSS average rating: 4.1657% rated 5 out of
5General public average rating: 3.8735% rated 5 out of 5NJGSS
students were more susceptiblepd says: we have to double check
these averages - I get 5.16 for njgss and 4.94 for mturk. And
though theyre numerically different, statistically theyre not
different. So we can talk about being at least as susceptible and,
even a suggestion of being more so.
Forer EffectYou have a need for other people to like and admire
you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have
some personality weaknesses, you are able to compensate for them
with your strengths. You have considerable unused capacity that you
have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled
on the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the
inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have
made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a
certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when
hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself
as an independent thinker; and do not accept others' statements
without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too
frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are
extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are
introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations may seem
unrealistic but you have a strong motivation and drive.
zodiac, palm readingConclusionOur results generally matched our
hypothesesNJGSS Scholars excelled in math/science oriented
questionsScholars were still susceptible to lower-level cognitive
illusionsFor certain tasks, there was a statistically significant
difference between NJGSS Scholars and the general publicFalse
Memory, Intuitive Physics, Moses Illusion (circle problem), Lake
Wobegon
In general, our hypotheses were true in that more NJGSS Scholars
correctly answered questions involving math and science than the
general population. In certain cases, the general population did
better than Gov School Students, but it is unknown whether this is
because of the MTurk participants being better in that area or
cheating on their part, as they took the test unsupervised. Many
qualities of NJGSS Scholars were tested in our personality test
--science/math skills, memory, and attention to detail-- explaining
our findings. Even though Gov School students excelled in these
areas, we also found that you are more susceptible to other
lower-level cognitive illusions than the general population.
mention which tests had statistically significant differences. see
the document Dr. Dolan posted in the drive.Thank You!Team 2 would
like to thank:Our leaders, Dr. Dolan and StephDr. Cassano, Dr.
Surace, Anna MaeThe New Jersey Governors School in the Sciences and
all its generous donors.Independent College Fund of NJ/Johnson
& JohnsonAT&TActavis PharmaceuticalsCelgeneNovartisBayer
HealthcareLaura (NJGSS 86) and John OverdeckNJGSS Alumnae and
Parents of AlumnaeBoard of Overseers, New Jersey Governors
SchoolsState of New JerseyDrew UniversityThank you!Presentation
ReferencesPictureshttp://bestclipartblog.com/clipart-pics/student-clipart-3.jpghttp://bestclipartblog.com/clipart-pics/-test-clipart-9.jpghttp://www.creativekeys.net/storytellingpower/bigcomputerart.jpghttp://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/santa-claus-flying-sleigh-christmas-eve-21780223.jpghttp://cf.badassdigest.com/_uploads/images/18111/moses__span.jpghttp://www.audioeditions.com/audio-book-images/l/News-from-Lake-Wobegon-283516.jpghttp://thoughtfullyprepping.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/a-single-word-wow/