Cognitive Biases & Decision-Making Errors
This bias occurs when people only seek out information that supports their pre-existing beliefs.
What is confirmation bias?
This term refers to the internal drive to engage in goal-oriented behavior and actions.
What is motivation?
The environment provides signals that trigger automatic behaviors, like sitting in a chair to study. These are called ________.
What are environmental cues?
This cycle, consisting of cue → behavior → reward, helps create automatic habits.
What is habit loop?
When behavior is reinforced unpredictably, it becomes more persistent. This type of reinforcement is called ________.
What is variable reinforcement?
The mental shortcut people use to make judgments based on the most readily available information is called the ________.
What is availability heuristic?
This term refers to motivation that comes from within, such as personal enjoyment or a sense of achievement.
What is intrinsic motivation?
This term refers to a stimulus that signals when a specific behavior will be reinforced, like a bell ringing to signal the start of class.
What is discriminative stimulus (SD)?
This term refers to the emotional or physical satisfaction one gets from a behavior, which reinforces the behavior.
What is reward value?
The addition of something unpleasant, such as detention for texting, is meant to reduce a behavior. This is an example of ________.
What is punishment?
This occurs when someone is overly confident about their knowledge or ability, often leading to poor decision-making.
What is overconfidence?
Maya’s motivation to continue working on a challenging project, despite difficulty, is an example of this concept.
What is self-determination theory?
The process by which environmental stimuli activate behavior automatically without conscious effort is known as ________.
What is priming?
This term refers to the process of changing one’s behavior by altering their environment to make a specific action easier.
What is affordance?
The likelihood of a behavior increasing due to the removal of an unpleasant stimulus, such as anxiety reduction, is an example of ________.
What is negative reinforcement?
This type of decision-making error occurs when a person refuses to change their beliefs, even when faced with contradicting evidence.
What is belief perseverance?
When someone is driven by the desire to gain social approval or avoid social punishment, they are experiencing ________ motivation.
What is extrinsic motivation?
This term refers to a setting or object that makes a behavior more likely to occur, like a desk arranged to encourage studying.
What is affordance?
This environmental feature triggers Maya’s habitual behavior of watching TV when she sits on the couch.
What is cue?
This happens when a behavior gradually fades because it is no longer reinforced.
What is extinction?
The tendency to make a decision based on the way information is presented, like emphasizing positive outcomes over negative ones, is an example of ________.
What is framing?
A person who continues a task because they find it personally rewarding, even without external rewards, is demonstrating the power of ________.
What is intrinsic motivation?
When Maya’s behavior is triggered by her environment in a stable context, such as studying in the same room, this is called ________.
What is context-dependent behavior?
When Maya moves to a different study spot to avoid distractions, this environmental change leads to greater focus. This illustrates ________.
What is context-dependent behavior?
This type of reinforcement involves adding something pleasant to increase the likelihood of a behavior, like receiving praise.
What is positive reinforcement?