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The Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic

Copy the two multiplication problems listed below on separate pieces of paper. Show Problem A to at least five friends, and show Problem B to at least five other friends. In each case, ask the participants to estimate the answer within 5 seconds

A. 8 × 7 × 6 × 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1

B. 1 × 2 × 3 × 4 × 5 × 6 × 7 × 8

Now tally the answers separately for the two problems, listing the answers from smallest to largest. Calculate the median for each problem. (If you have an uneven number of participants, the median is the answer in the middle of the distribution—with half larger and half smaller. If you….

Estimating Confidence Intervals

For each of the following questions, answer in terms of a range, rather than a single number. Specifically, you should supply a 98% confidence interval. A confidence interval is the range within which you expect the correct answer to fall. For example, suppose you answer a question by supplying a 98% confidence interval that is 2,000 to 7,000. This means that you think there is only a 2% chance that the real answer is either less than 2,000 or more than 7,000. The correct answers can be found at the end of the chapter on page 452.

1. How many full-time students were enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities in 2011?

2. According to the official count, how many people died in the 2011 earthquake….

The Framing Effect and Background Information

Try the following two problems:

Problem 1

Imagine that you decided to see a concert, and you paid $20 for the admission price of one ticket. You are about to enter the theater, when you discover that you cannot find your ticket. The theater doesn’t keep a record of ticket purchases, so you cannot simply get another ticket. You have $60 in your wallet.

Would you pay $20 for another ticket for the concert?

Problem 2

Imagine that you decided to buy a ticket for a concert; the ticket will cost $20.

You go to the theater box office. Then you open your wallet and discover that a $20 bill is missing. (Fortunately, you still have $40 left in your wallet.) Would….

The Framing Effect and the Wording of a Question

Try the following two problems:

Problem 1

Imagine that a country in Europe is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual disease, which is expected to kill 600 people. The public health officials have proposed two alternative programs to combat the disease. Assume that these officials have scientifically estimated the consequences of the programs, as follows:

If they adopt Program A, 200 people will be saved.

If they adopt Program B, there is a one-third probability that 600 people will be saved, and a two-thirds probability that zero people will be saved.

Which of these two programs would you choose?

Problem 2

Now imagine the same situation, but with these two alternatives:

If Program C is adopted, 400 people….

Decision-Making Style

Completely disagree                                                             Completely agree

Using the scale above, answer each of the following questions:

1. Whenever I’m faced with a choice, I try to imagine what all the other possibilities are, even ones that aren’t present at the moment.

2. Whenever I make a choice, I try to get information about how the other alternatives turned out.

3. When I am in the car listening to the radio, I often check other stations to see if something better is playing, even if I am relatively satisfied with what I’m listening to.

4. When I watch TV, I channel surf, often scanning through the available options even while attempting to watch one program.

5. I treat relationships like clothing: I expect to try a lot on….

. Describe which heuristic is illustrated in each of the following everyday errors: (a) Someone asks you whether cardinals or robins are more common, and you make this decision based on the number of birds of each kind that you have seen this winter. (b) You are looking at a deck of cards that are in random order, and you see that there are three cards in a row that are Kings, which doesn’t seem likely by chance alone. (c) You estimate the number of bottles of soda you will need for a picnic in July, based on the Christmas party consumption, taking into account the fact that the weather will be warmer in July.

Age Differences in Recall and Recognition

In this study, you will need to test a college-age person and a preschool child. You should reassure the child’s parents that you are simply testing memory as part of a class project

You will be examining both recall and recognition in this demonstration. First, assemble 20 common objects, such as a pen, pencil, piece of paper, leaf, stick, rock, book, key, apple, and so forth. Place the objects in a box or cover them with a cloth.

You will use the same testing procedure for both people, although the preschool child will require a more extensive explanation. Remove 10 objects in all, one at a time. Show each object for about 5 seconds and then conceal it again. After you have….

Organizational Strategies in Children

Make a photocopy of the pictures on this page and use scissors to cut them apart. In this study you will test a child between the ages of 4 and 8; ideally, it would be interesting to test children of several different ages. Arrange these pictures in random order in a circle facing the child. Instruct him or her to study the pictures so that they can be remembered later. Mention that the pictures can be rearranged in any order they want. After a 4-minute study period, remove the pictures and ask the child to list as many items as possible. Notice two things in this demonstration: (1) Does the child spontaneously rearrange the items at all during the study period? (2) Does the….

Metamemory in Children

Locate a child who is at least 5 years old, and ask the following questions about his or her memory. Compare the accuracy and the completeness of the answers with your own responses. If the child is young, you may need to modify the wording

1. Suppose that a child named Katie is supposed to bring her favorite book to school tomorrow. She is afraid that she might forget to bring it. What kind of things can she do, to make sure that she brings the book to school?

2. Suppose that I decide to read you a list of 10 words. How many words do you think that you could remember, in the correct order? (Then read the following list fairly slowly, and count….

Producing Child-Directed Speech

Locate a doll that resembles an infant as closely as possible in features and size. Select a friend who has had experience with infants, and ask him or her to imagine that the doll is a niece or nephew who just arrived with parents for a first visit. Encourage your friend to interact with the ‘‘baby’’ in a normal fashion. Observe your friend’s language for qualities such as pitch, variation in pitch, vocabulary, sentence length, repetition, and intonation. Also observe any nonverbal communication. What qualities are different from the language used with adults?