Response About Cognitive Illusion

Response About Cognitive Illusion

Student 1

Hello,

I appreciate your posting. You have given a great illustration of the cognitive fallacy of observer bias and how it can result in a basic attribution mistake. In your case, as the tester, you attributed your average performance to outside variables like difficult questions, little sleep, and testing-related distractions. Another tester could be more likely to credit the median score in this situation to internal elements like intelligence or effort. This discrepancy in attribution results from observer bias, in which the tester favors external factors while the observer favors internal characteristics. The fundamental attribution error occurs when the observer fails to consider the outside factors influencing the tester’s conduct sufficiently (Devine, 2021). Instead, they make snap judgments based on presumptive internal characteristics. This oversight in judgment may cause misunderstandings and force others to make unjust conclusions. Overall, your illustration demonstrates how our cognitive biases and inadequate comprehension of the intricate aspects impacting conduct can warp our views of the behaviors of others. Great job!

References

Devine, E. (2021, December 8). An exploration of teachers’ attributions for the causes of emotionally based school avoidance. Eprints. Nottingham.ac.uk. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/66070/

Student 2

Hello,

I appreciate you sharing your knowledge about cognitive illusion and fundamental attribution error. Cognitive illusions can result in overgeneralization, contributing to a warped way of thinking that may lead to inaccurate assumptions or attribution errors (Jones, 2023). In this case, your perception of yourself as “a bad student” and your opinion of all the math teachers in your high school resulted from the belief that your subpar performance in Algebra was caused by the instructors’ inadequate or poor teaching methods. This illustrates the fundamental attribution fallacy, in which observers highlight dispositional or personality reasons for an actor’s conduct while downplaying situational and contextual aspects. You were prevented from understanding your potential, your part in your failure, and the efficiency of the teachers’ teaching methods when you continued to blame them for not assuring you performed well. As such, it is critical to understand that fundamental attribution mistakes can result from cognitive illusions and that we should be aware of our thought processes while inferring the intentions of others.

References

Jones, K. (2023). The inventory of cognitive distortions-youth version: The development and validation of a psychometric test for the measurement of cognitive distortions in youth. PCOM Psychology Dissertations. https://digitalcommons.pcom.edu/psychology_dissertations/604/

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student 1.) Recently, I applied for a government position that required a test. As the tester, I attribute my average performance to external factors like challenging questions, lack of sleep, and distractions in the testing environment. I recognize that various circumstances have influenced your performance. However, if I were another tester observing this situation, I might be more inclined to attribute the median score to my lack of intelligence or effort. This difference in attribution is due to the observer bias, where the tester (the person experiencing the event) tends to focus on external factors. In contrast, the observer (someone watching the event) leans towards internal traits.

The fundamental attribution error occurs when the observer fails to consider the external circumstances affecting the tester’s behavior adequately. Instead, they jump to conclusions based on assumed internal traits. This error in judgment can lead to misunderstandings and unfair decisions of others.

In summary, the cognitive illusion of the observer bias can contribute to the fundamental attribution error by causing individuals to attribute behavior inconsistently, assigning internal causes to others’ testers without fully considering the external context. This reminds us that our perceptions of others’ actions are often skewed by our cognitive biases and limited understanding of the complex factors influencing behavior.

Student 2.) Hello Class,

Cognitive illusion relates to a distorted way of thinking that leads to overgeneralization, which can contribute to a distorted way of thinking that might result in incorrect assumptions or attribution errors. In my third year of high school, I was not performing well in Algebra, which made me believe that my poor performance was due to the instructors’ insufficient or poor teaching methods. Consequently, I perceived myself as a dumb person and could do nothing to change my situation of poor performance. I also negatively perceived all the mathematics teachers in our high school. Specifically, I construed them as bad individuals who did not care about me. The long-term effect was a feeling of hopelessness, loss of interest in education, and disconnection from reality. Some of the most common phrases that I used to say when asked about my poor performance in mathematics included, “I feel like a bad student,” “My teacher was not trained well,” and “I just know I’ll never master algebra,” “ I just wasted my lessons,” and similar curses. The attribution error I committed in this cognitive illusion was blaming my teachers for their actions of not ensuring that I performed well in the specific mathematics concept while forgetting about my role in failing to grasp the ideas. In other words, I cut myself a break while holding my educators accountable for their actions. This was erroneous and counterproductive to my studies since it prevented me from realizing my potential, my contributions toward my failure, and how the teachers were effective at their delivery methods. I would have improved my learning if I had stopped the blame game and focused on improving the specific areas where I was performing poorly. It would have entailed sparing some time with my peers and teachers to learn more about algebra and similar areas that I perceived to be difficult for my learning experiences.