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Citrus College *
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Course
110
Subject
Philosophy
Date
Feb 20, 2024
Type
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For each of the following, state the cognitive bias, if any, that is likely at work. You can choose among the following choices:
Availability Heuristic
Negativity Bias
In-Group Bias
Fundamental Attribution Error
Actor-Observer Error
Con±rmation Bias
Obedience to Authority
Overcon±dence E²ect
Self-Serving Bias
Reasonable to conclude that there is no bias.
1.
You recently read a news article about ten people who each won over ten million dollars playing the Super Lotto Lottery. Each
person played at a di±erent time from the others, and the article talks about how winning so much money changed the lives of
each of the ten people. After you ²nish reading the article, you decide to play the Super Lotto Lottery, feeling that you have a
high chance of winning after reading the news article. Which bias is at work in you, if any at all?
__Availability Heuristic_________________________________________________________
2.
You go to a music concert with a few friends to see the live performance of a band that all of you really like. You all arrive
together on time ²nd your way to the line. While in line, someone is walking the other way and rudely bumps your shoulder.
The rude person does not turn around and apologize - they just keep walking. You ²nd this incident unpleasant. Throughout
the night, everything goes extremely well, but you have a di³cult time enjoying the rest of the evening, focusing on the rude
person who rudely bumped your shoulder. Which bias is at work in you if any at all?
_______Negativity Bias________________________________________________
3.
Max is a staunch supporter of Political Party A, and passionately hates the opposing Political Party B. Years ago, a politician from
Political Party B was embroiled in a scandal, in which the politician was found to have been having an a±air with another person
despite being married. Max spoke harshly against that politician for Political Party B, and vehemently argued that the politician
should resign from o³ce. Recently, a politician from Political Party A was found cheating on his spouse with at least two other
people. Max asserted that cheating on your spouse is a private a±air and nobody else's business, and expressed his continued
strong support for the politician from Political Party A. Which bias is at work in Max if any at all?
____________In-Group Bias_______________________________________________
4.
Lou is trying to sleep but his neighbor who lives in the apartment directly above his is making a lot of noise. It well-passed
midnight and Lou hears very loud thumping and crashing sounds. Lou immediately thinks his upstairs neighbor must be an
incredibly rude and inconsiderate person. Which bias is at work in Lou if any at all?
______________Fundamental Attribution Error_________________________________________________
5.
Mary has been very successful in life. Mary paid for her own way through school, and, after graduating, started her own
business, which she built from scratch into a multi-billion dollar company. After learning about Mary's success, Lou
immediately explains Mary's success in terms of Mary's family and friends having helped her, and Lou denies that Mary has any
real natural skill or virtue that helped her ²nd success. Later in life, Lou becomes just as successful as Mary. However, Lou
explains his own success in terms of his innate intelligence, strength of mind, and tenacity of will.
_______________Actor-Observer Error________________________________________
6.
Stacey is ²rm in her conviction that her mathematics professor is an idiot who is not quali²ed to teach college courses in
mathematics. The professor has carefully and correctly done many mathematics problems in class while teaching his students.
At one point while doing a mathematics problem from the homework for the class, the professor made an error in his
calculation. After ²nding the error and correcting it, the professor continued on. Stacey, however, highlighted this error in
calculation as evidence supporting her judgment that the professor is awful. Which bias is at work in Stacey if any at all?
______________Con²rmation Bias_________________________________________
7.
Stan has decided to volunteer in a psychology experiment. Stan fully understands that he can leave anytime during the
experiment without any negative consequences. Stan is told to enter a room and communicate with someone in the next room
using an intercom system. He is supposed to ask the person in the other room a set of pre-written questions. If the person gets
the answer correct, Stan is to move on to the next question. If, however, the person gets the answer wrong, Stan is instructed to
press a red button located on a device sitting on his table. Pressing the red button administers an electric shock to the person in
the next room. After an hour of testing and administering electric shocks to the person in the next room, Stan becomes very
uncomfortable and expresses a wish to leave. A man in a lab coat enters the room and instructs him to continue. Stan complies.
He becomes increasingly upset, but every time he expresses a desire to leave, a man in a lab coat walks in and calmly tells Stan
that he would appreciate it if he continued. Stan continues. Which bias is at work in Stan, if any at all?
________________Obedience to Authority_____________________________________
8.
Stacey has decided to put drywall on an un²nished wall in her garage. She does not think that she is very handy or particularly
skilled, but she is fairly certain that she will be able to do it alone, despite having never done drywall work. Which bias is at work
in Stacey, if any at all?
__________________Overcon²dence E±ect__________________________________________
9.
Stacey wrote her ²rst essay for her critical thinking class. Her professor gave her an A grade for the essay, and commented that it
was a great essay. Stacey was very proud of her work. She strongly believed that she is naturally gifted intellectually, and has an
aptitude for writing excellent argument essays. When Stacey wrote her second essay, she received a B grade from the professor.
Though the professor was encouraging, he pointed out some places in the second essay that could be improved. Stacey became
angry, charging the Professor with being inept and a horrible judge of argument essays. Which bias is at work in Stacey, if any at
all?
_______________Self-Serving Bias_____________________________________________
10. Professor Smith notices that one of his students, Xavier, comes to class late, turns in homework late, and does poorly on the
quizzes and exams. Professor Smith thinks that Xavier doesn’t have a serious attitude and is not very smart. Which bias is at
work in Professor Smith, if any at all?
________________Fundamental Attribution Error_________________________________________
11. Mario is a New Yorker visiting Los Angeles. He has a strong belief that people in Los Angeles are stupid, shallow, and fake. He
meets a lot of people while he is in Los Angeles visiting. Only a small several of the people he met from Los Angeles are stupid,
shallow, and fake. Disregarding the other people from Los Angeles that he met who were smart, deep, and genuine, he continues
to think even more strongly that his original belief about people from Los Angeles is true. Which bias is at work in Mario, if any
at all?
_______________Con²rmation Bias________________________________
12. Max decided to give runway modeling a try. He put on a Hugo Boss suit and when it was his turn, he strutted down the runway.
When asked how he did, he responded “Nothing to it. I did great – I exuded male sexiness and class all at the same time.” When
he later watched a video of the event, he realized that he looked goo²er than a duck on L.S.D. Which bias was at work in Max, if
any at all?
________________Overcon²dence E±ect______________________________________________
13. Anna always thought that people who did badly in a college class were either too lazy to study or were not smart enough to be in
college. She ²nally goes to college, but does very poorly in all of her classes. When asked why she did not do well in her classes,
she said that her professors were bad lecturers, the textbooks were horrible, and the exams were written unclearly and badly.
Which bias is at work in Anna, if any at all?
_____________________Actor-Observer Error______________________________________
14. Sandra, an American, is in a heated discussion with Seung-Joo, a South Korean. Sandra notes how corrupt the government is in
South Korea, and points out the recent incident that led to the impeachment of President Park. Sandra claims that South Korea
is a corrupt place unlike the U.S.A. Seung-joo points out that similar things have happened in the U.S.A. as well, and that it isn’t
fair for Sandra to say that South Korea is a corrupt place but the U.S.A. is not. Which bias is at work in Sandra, if any at all?
______________________In-Group Bias_______________________________________
15. Lou thinks that Melanie is a very strong person. He has known her for ten years, and has known her to be ²rm in her beliefs, and
to have her act together, always in control of her life. However, a few days later, Lou witnesses for the ²rst time Melanie having a
bad moment: she breaks down and says something that isn’t very nice. From that point on, Lou thinks that Melanie isn’t very
strong after all, but is rather weak and even nasty. Which bias is at work in Lou, if any at all?
_______________Negativity Bias_____________________________________________
16. Tamara is sitting in her o³ce at work when her supervisor walks in. It is clear to Tamara immediately that he is anxious. He
hands Tamara a stack of ²les and tells her to shred them. He also instructs her to go to the accounting ²les and change every
other negative number found in the “pro²ts” column to a positive number. She asks why he wants all of this done, and he just
orders her to do it. Although worried, Tamara does what she is told. Which bias is at work in Tamara, if any at all?
______________Obedience to Authority_____________________________________________
17. Joe watches a movie in which two friends go camping in the woods, only to be hunted down by a maniac with a chainsaw. Joe
really liked the movie, and thinks about it before he goes to bed at night. That weekend, his friends invite him to go camping.
Joe says he will, but only if they bring several shotguns and machetes. They look at him like he’s crazy, and ask him why. Joe tells
them that there is a good chance that some crazy person will hunt them and try to kill them in the forest. Which bias is at work
in Joe, if any at all?
______________Availability Heuristic___________________________________________
18. You ²nd the conclusion of an argument to be very plausible. However, you decide to examine carefully the soundness of the
argument. After careful and genuine inspection of argument, both in terms of its validity and the truth of its premises, you
conclude that the argument is indeed sound, and thus a good argument. Which bias is at work in you, if any at all?
_________________Reasoable No Bias________________________________________
19. You have been thinking about a news article about a man who, while eating at a fancy restaurant in Los Angeles, found a rat’s
tail in his spaghetti dinner. Your friends want to get together for dinner this coming weekend, and you suggest that they all come
to your home for dinner, believing that there is a good chance that you’ll ²nd some sort of rat-part in the dinner. Which bias is
at work in you, if any at all?
________________Availability Heuristic_______________________________________________
20. You see a person give a talk at a conference. After she gives a talk, she takes questions. She gets a bit ´ustered by one of the
questions asked by someone in the audience. You think that she is not strong and smart enough to be leading a discussion in
front of so many people. Which bias is at work in you, if any at all?
______________Negativity Bias _________________________________________________________
21. You go dancing with your friends. Later, you and your friends go to a diner, and your friends tell you that you are an incredible
dancer. While there, other people who were also dancing at the club and also eating at the diner come to your table to tell you
that they were impressed by your dancing. For those reasons, you conclude that you’re a good dancer. Which bias is at work in
you, if any at all?
________________Reasonable No Bias______________________________________
22. You grew up in an area that is largely Democrat. After thinking about the issues and policies of the various parties carefully and
critically, you decide to become a Democrat. Which bias is at work in you, if any at all?
__________________Reasonable No Bias_________________________________________
23. Your friend, who is helping you ²nd an apartment, tells you that she found an awesome apartment near your work, just like you
were hoping to ²nd. It has all of the amenities that you wanted: two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a garage. It’s also very
spacious and within walking distance to many restaurants and shopping centers. However, your friend tells you that it’s right
next to the junction of two major freeways. You think about it and ²nd that living next to freeways is very unhealthy and can
cause serious health problems, even cancer, later on down the road. You decide it’s not worth it. Which bias is at work in you, if
any at all?
________________Reasonable No Bias_______________________________________
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24. You are in a dance competition. The ²rst dancer dances for the competition, but ends up falling a couple times. You think that
he is not very good, and that he didn’t practice enough. The second dancer dances for the competition, but ends up falling once.
You think she’s a little better, but still not very good. Your turn: you dance, and you fall three times. You think that there is
something wrong with the dance ´oor that made you fall. Which bias is at work in you, if any at all?
____________Actor-Observer Error____________________________________________
25. You think that it’s very, very obvious that morality is culturally relative. You speak with a philosopher who specializes in ethics,
and she tells you that the issue cultural relativism is far from obvious, and that there are many issues that remain. Since she in
fact has a doctorate degree in ethics and is an authority on the issue of relativism, you defer to her and take what she says as right.
Which bias is at work in you, if any at all?
____________Reasonable No Bias_______________________________________________
26. You think that people with red hair have a short temper. Every time you see someone who ´ies o± the handle in anger from the
smallest provocation, you take note of whether or not they have red hair. You know a few people who have red hair, and you’ve
known the to get angry. Even though your non-red-haired friend have also gotten angry before, you notice it more with your
red-haired friends. Which bias is at work in you, if any at all?
____________Con²rmation Bias________________________________________________
27. You suspect that those who study philosophy do well on the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). After some careful research,
you ²nd that people who were philosophy majors actually tend to do very well on the LSAT. Which bias is at work in you, if any
at all?
_____________Reasonable No Bias_________________________________________________
28. You are trying to ²nd a movie to watch and ²nd one that looks interesting. You check out the reviews, and you ²nd that they are
generally positive. One review, however, gives it the only negative review it has. The negative reviewer states that the movie has
²ve explicit scenes of violence, two of which graphically show someone being drawn and quartered. Despite the positive reviews,
you decide against watching the movie, since you detest explicit and graphic violence. Which bias is at work in you, if any at all?
___________Reasonable No Bias________________________________________________
29. (Assume that you are someone from the ‘Western World’). You read an article about the capsizing of a large ship o± the coast of
Korea carrying Korean high school students on a ²eld trip. Most of the students drowned. It was discovered that the ship was
modi²ed in a way that made it dangerous, and the owner of the ship – also Korean – was able to make the modi²cations while
bypassing inspection and paying o± inspectors. You think that Koreans don’t do things by the book. Later you ²nd that
Volkswagen, a car company in Germany, has gotten in trouble for falsifying emissions data regarding their diesel cars. You
conclude that VW did not follow the books, though you still think Germany is a nation that follows the rule of law in all
respects. Which bias is at work in you, if any at all?
___________In-Group Bias_______________________________________________
30. You have been in several romantic relationships each lasting an average of about one year. You are a serial, short-term
monogamist: hopping from committed relationships that last an average of about one year, give or take a few months. In all of
the relationships, there is a pattern: you congratulate yourself when things are going well in the relationship, thinking that
things are going well because you are a great partner; but but you blame your romantic partner when things go poorly and the
relationship sours, believing that your romantic partner is sel²sh, takes you for granted, etc. Which bias is at work in you, if any
at all?
____________Self-Serving Bias__________________________________________________