Cognitive Illusions Intriguing Phenomena in Judgement, Thinking and Memory

Cognitive Illusions explores a wide range of fascinating psychological effects in the way we think, judge and remember in our everyday lives. Featuring contributions from leading researchers, the book defines what cognitive illusions are and discusses their theoretical status: are such illusions proof for a faulty human information-processing system, or do they only represent by-products of otherwise adaptive cognitive mechanisms? Throughout the book, background to phenomena such as illusions of control, overconfidence and hindsight bias are discussed, before considering the respective empirical research, potential explanations of the phenomenon, and relevant applied perspectives. Each chapter also features the detailed description of an experiment that can be used as classroom demonstration. Featuring six new chapters, this edition has been thoroughly updated throughout to reflect recent research and changes of focus within the field. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of cognitive illusions, specifically, those focusing on thinking, reasoning, decision-making and memory.

Introduction Cognitive illusions Rüdiger F. Pohl I. Thinking 1. Conjunction fallacy John E. Fisk 2. Base-rate neglect Gordon Pennycook & Valerie A. Thompson 3. Probability matching Ben R. Newell & Christin Schulze 4. Framing Anton Kühberger 5. Confirmation bias – Myside bias Hugo Mercier 6. Illusory correlation Klaus Fiedler 7. Illusions of control Suzanne C. Thompson 8. Wason selection task Jonathan St. B. T. Evans 9. Belief bias in deductive reasoning Jonathan St. B. T. Evans II. Judgment 10. Availability Rolf Reber 11. Judgments by representativeness Karl H. Teigen 12. Anchoring effect Štepán Bahník, Birte Englich, & Fritz Strack 13. Validity effect Catherine Hackett Renner 14. Mere exposure effect Robert F. Bornstein & Catherine Craver-Lemley 15. Halo effects Joseph P. Forgas & Simon M. Laham 16. Overconfidence Ulrich Hoffrage 17. Pollyanna principle Margaret W. Matlin III. Memory 18. Revelation effect André Aßfalg 19. Survival processing effect Meike Kroneisen & Edgar Erdfelder 20. Labelling and overshadowing effects Rüdiger F. Pohl 21. Associative memory illusions Henry L. Roediger, III, & David A. Gallo 22. Misinformation effect Jacquie Pickrell, Dawn-Leah McDonald, Daniel M. Bernstein, & Elizabeth F. Loftus 23. Hindsight bias Rüdiger F. Pohl & Edgar Erdfelder 24. Retrieval-induced forgetting Oliver Kliegl & Karl-Heinz T. Bäuml IV. Extensions 25. Suggestion and cognitive illusions Günter Molz & Rüdiger F. Pohl

Rüdiger F Pohl is Professor of Psychology at the University of Mannheim, Germany. His research interests include cognitive illusions, heuristics and decision making, and autobiographical memory.