1. Chapter 11 discussed heuristics as far as how we go about solving problems (how we attack problems) and chapter 12 went further into depth on heuristics as they are realted and effect our reasoning and decision making. Heuristics also referred back to our working memory because this process requires our working memory to begin the reasoning process by figuring out our initial conclusion might not be correct. Reasoning also utilizes our processing, in some cases top-down is beneficial and in others, bottom-up should be considered as well. One eye opener from last chapter came back to haunt me again in this chapter! 11 talked about our background knowledge and how it can effect our problem solving and again, it showed up in 12 too! 12 discusses how sometimes our background knowledge can conflict with logic and cause us to make an incorrect decision by clinging to our background knowledge and simply not looking at the facts presented. This chapter also reminded me of the testing effect from a previous chapter which discussed that students seem to think they do better on tests than they actually do. They have a confidence level that is unrealistic. Well, apparently adults do as well! Overconfidence also occurs in adults when making decisions. I am extremely guilty of this, have been convicted, and will try to be better about this when making decisions. I will be positive, yet look at all of the possibilities before making overconfident decisions.
2. As much as blackboard discussed the confirmation bias, I find it still questionable that others don't take the time to look for counterexamples. I believe this is true for most researchers, but I do believe that some people and their personalities lend themselves to find this incorrect. For example, aren't most kids guilty of this? I'm not a parent but I know that kids will give every option in the book as of to why their decision is correct against the theory/parent answer given. Just thought I'd use that and look at the other side of the theory to try and prove it wrong! I am trying to look at disproving the theory rather than proving it! But, in actuality, isn't it true that some jobs require oneself to look at the opposite and disprove?
3. Again, this background knowledge info from last chapter has come back to haunt me for a reason! I believe I need to be aware that my kids (I have low readers) often rely on their background knowledge to make a decision. They are unable to make good judgements based on information because they rely heavily on their background and add their personal info when making a decision. It is also important to come to the big realization that media can influence my kids' decision making. The other day we were reading a story and one student made a connection as of to how it was related to a Hannah Montana episode (fortunately, I had seen the episode). I realized it was similar, but knew the endings were different. The student was unable to see that the endings were different and added the tv show ending instead. Not only does that effect their reading strategies, but it also makes them believe everything they see and hear. I had two 1st grades boys fighting and wrestling. They told me that was ok because they play that on their playstation. Again, media is seriously hurting our kids' decision making because it doesn't allow them to see the outcomes (which was bruising and detention). Unfortunately, they had to learn the hard way.
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It is funny that my daughter (4 years old) and I were talking about your media example just last night in the car. She said that on iCarly (a TV show on Disney Channel) a boy swallowed 2 golf balls. I told her that it wasn't real. She told me, "but it was on iCarly, mom". She is assuming it is real because it is on TV. This scared me! I told her that people make up stories and then other people act them out on TV. There are certain shows that are real and others not. I think that she understood because she said, "So the news is real and Animal Planet is real but Sponge Bob isn't real?" Before this conversation, she thought that everything on TV is real!
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how our background knowledge influences our decisions in so many different ways. It's kind of scary how big of a role it plays in possibly making the wrong decisions. You bring up a good point about the confirmation bias, children often do go through every excuse in the book to prove something to be wrong if it isn't what they wanted to happen. On blackboard in my group we also all agreed with this bias, no one really tried to prove it wrong. I guess that's part of the bias in itself. I too agree that the media is playing a large part in students decision making. I have third graders that are choosing to do things that I would never have even thought about in third grade, but they are hearing these things from the media. It is sad:(
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