Your friend, Samantha, is very worried about her relationship with her boyfriend
ID: 86355 • Letter: Y
Question
Your friend, Samantha, is very worried about her relationship with her boyfriend, Michael. She is afraid that Michael is losing interest in her. She explains her fear to you in the following way:
First, Michael has been spending less time with Samantha in the past few weeks. He explains this in terms of the unusual amount of work he has, but Samantha remembers that her old boyfriend behaved this way before breaking up with her. Second, she has noticed that he seems to be dressing better and looking quite happy and distracted, all of which she sees as signs that he is in love...with someone else. Third, she has observed that many couples break up when they are at the end of their last year of college, as she and her boyfriend are. Finally, Samantha asks Michael if they can have dinner that night. Even though he declines because he needs to stay home and study, she calls him and finds he isn't there. She sees this as supporting her idea that he is avoiding her.
As a good friend, who knows a lot about the psychology and the kinds of biases involved in thought and decision making, how might you sooth her fears?
In your discussion:
Identify the problem solving bias involved in each of Samantha's four reasons.
In each case, explain why the specific belief is evidence for a particular kind of bias.
Explain why the particular bias may be producing a belief that is inaccurate.
What do these kinds of biases tell us about the ways in which people make decisions?
Explanation / Answer
First case- This may be due to confirmation bias. This happens when one looks for information which supports his or her existing beliefs and rejects data that go against one’s belief. Therefore there is a tendency to leave some relevant information.
To avoid this bias one should seek information from a range of sources and consider the situation from multiple perspectives. One can also discuss his or her thoughts with others.
Second case- It may be due to anchoring bias.
This bias is due to the tendency to jump to conclusions. This conclusion is based on the information gained early in decision making process. This can be related to first impression bias that is to make initial picture of a situation and do not see other possibilities.
To avoid it one should reflect on the decision making history and think of instances where he or she has jumped to conclusions in the past.
Thus give more time to thinking process and make decisions slowly.
Third case- This may be due to overconfidence bias which happens when anyone places too much faith in his or her knowledge or opinion. This bias is often combined with anchoring and act on hunches.
To avoid this one should make efforts to gather comprehensive and objective data.
Fourth case-
This may be due to Gambler’s fallacy bias.
This arises when one expect past events to influence the future.
A classic example is a coin toss. If one gets heads consecutively seven times, he or she might assume that there is a higher chance that tail will come in the eight time.
To avoid this bias one should look at the information chronologically. The situation should be analyzed from number of angles. Tools such as Situation Appreciation can be used.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.