Joachim Krueger (1998) The bet on Bias: a Foregone Conclusion? . Psycoloquy: 9(46) Social Bias (1)
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Psycoloquy 9(46): The bet on Bias: a Foregone Conclusion?

THE BET ON BIAS: A FOREGONE CONCLUSION?
Target Article by Krueger on Social Bias

Joachim Krueger
Department of Psychology
Brown University, Box 1853
Providence, RI 02912
USA
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Psychology/faculty/krueger.html

Joachim_Krueger@Brown.edu

Abstract

Social psychology has painted a picture of human misbehavior and irrational thinking. For example, prominent social cognitive biases are said to distort consensus estimation, self perception, and causal attribution. The thesis of this target article is that the roots of this negativistic paradigm lie in the joint application of narrow normative theories and statistical testing methods designed to reject those theories. Suggestions for balancing the prevalent paradigm include (a) modifications to the ruling rituals of Null Hypothesis Significance Testing, (b) revisions of what is considered a normative response, and (c) increased emphasis on individual differences in judgment.

Keywords

Bayes' rule, bias, hypothesis testing, individual differences probability, rationality, significance testing, social cognition, statistical inference

References