Tag: Cognitive psychology
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Does everything come in twos? Problems with dual-process theories
Dual process theories are everywhere in psychology [zotpressInText item=”{5421944:A45HTJM4}”]. From decision making to emotions, the idea that complex cognitive phenomena can be categorised into two classes with specific common features is very alluring. [zotpressInText item=”{5421944:DT8HLGCV}” format=”%a% (%d%, %p%)”] identified psychologists’ penchant for dichotomies (nature vs nurture etc.) but this dichotomisation began with the cognitive revolution.…
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Is there good evidence for the ‘paradox of choice’?
The paradox of choice seems relevant in our modern consumer culture. Though it goes by many names[note]Choice overload, overchoice.[/note] it was popularised by Barry Schwartz in his 2004 book ‘The Paradox of Choice – Why More Is Less’. The concept as was initially proposed is straightforward: when presented with a large number of options, consumers…
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Do bilinguals enjoy enhanced executive functioning?
Many believe people who speak more than one language are smarter (just Google ‘bilingualism’ and ‘smarter’ and you’ll see many articles putting this idea forward). This popular meme arose due to a number of studies finding bilinguals scored higher on executive functioning (EF) tests compared to monolinguals [zotpressInText item=”{5421944:ZY8QPLW8}”]. Executive functioning is a broad concept…
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How biased are you? The role of intelligence in protecting you from thinking biases.
People generally like to believe they are rational (Greenberg, 2015). Unfortunately, this isn’t usually the case (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974). People very easily fall prey to thinking biases which stops them from making a purely rational judgement (whether always making a rational judgement is a good thing is a discussion for another time). These are flaws…
PsychBrief 