Document Detail


Causal beliefs and empirical evidence.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  21310692     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Causal beliefs often facilitate decision making. However, strong causal beliefs can also lead to neglect of relevant empirical evidence causing errors in risky decision making (e.g., medical, financial). We investigated the impact of pre-training and post-experience on the evaluation of empirical evidence in a two-alternative medical diagnostic task. Participants actively searched for information about two patients on the basis of four available cues. The first experiment indicated that pre-training can weaken the strong influence of causal beliefs reducing neglect of empirical evidence. The second experiment demonstrated that increasing amounts of empirical evidence can improve people's ability to decide in favor of a correct diagnosis. The current research converges with other recent work to clarify key mechanisms and boundary conditions shaping the influence of causal beliefs and empirical evidence in decisions and causal judgments.
Authors:
Stephanie M Müller; Rocio Garcia-Retamero; Edward Cokely; Antonio Maldonado
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Experimental psychology     Volume:  58     ISSN:  1618-3169     ISO Abbreviation:  Exp Psychol     Publication Date:  2011  
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2011-07-06     Completed Date:  2011-11-09     Revised Date:  2012-01-24    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  101138477     Medline TA:  Exp Psychol     Country:  Germany    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  324-32     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
University of Granada, Spain. mulles@ugr.es
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adolescent
Adult
Cues
Culture*
Decision Making* / physiology
Feedback, Psychological
Female
Humans
Judgment* / physiology
Male
Middle Aged
Spain
Young Adult

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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