Illusory Correlation Interview

And that will often result in a phenomenon that psychologists call “illusory correlation.”

And that will often result in a phenomenon that psychologists call “illusory correlation.”

And we’re what is sometimes called “cognitive misers.”

PsychFiles:
I spent a lot of time in The Psych Files to try to make clear what are some of these myths but I haven’t hit upon many of the ones in your book.

And again, that’s adaptive; that makes perfect sense, but as a result of that sometimes we may be a little bit lazy.

Many people believe that mentally ill people are at much greater risk for violence, for example, than non-mentally ill people, when in fact the substantial majority—probably 90-99% of people with mental illness—are not at heightened risk for violence.

I talked about, for example, “The full moon makes people go crazy” kind of thing, and I’ve talked a little bit about confirmation bias.

I talked about, for example, “The full moon makes people go crazy” kind of thing, and I’ve talked a little bit about confirmation bias.

And we’re what is sometimes called “cognitive misers.”

They either don’t attend to or forget about the cases where someone mentally ill did not commit a violent crime, or conversely cases where someone commits a violent crime and is not mentally ill.

The concept of confirmation bias is the idea that when we have an idea—it doesn’t have to be a formal hypothesis—but when we have an idea we tend to seek out evidence for it, and we often tend to ignore or distort or minimize evidence that does not support it.

And that’s something we all do, something we’re all prone to.

Someone comes in with the belief that full moons are related to all kinds of strange behaviors, like homicides and suicides and psychiatric hospital admissions and dog bites and you name it.

Someone comes in with the belief that full moons are related to all kinds of strange behaviors, like homicides and suicides and psychiatric hospital admissions and dog bites and you name it.

For listeners who aren’t familiar with this concept, I think that’s a really important one to emphasize.

When I teach Introductory Psychology, as I do here at Emory, it’s actually one of the very first things I teach my students.

And what we mean by “illusory correlation” is perceiving an association when it’s not there.

Confirmation bias is a biggie, I think—that probably initially accounts for why people are drawn to these myths and also sustained belief.

For listeners who aren’t familiar with this concept, I think that’s a really important one to emphasize.

And that will often result in a phenomenon that psychologists call “illusory correlation.”

Many people believe that mentally ill people are at much greater risk for violence, for example, than non-mentally ill people, when in fact the substantial majority—probably 90-99% of people with mental illness—are not at heightened risk for violence.

The concept of confirmation bias is the idea that when we have an idea—it doesn’t have to be a formal hypothesis—but when we have an idea we tend to seek out evidence for it, and we often tend to ignore or distort or minimize evidence that does not support it.

The concept of confirmation bias is the idea that when we have an idea—it doesn’t have to be a formal hypothesis—but when we have an idea we tend to seek out evidence for it, and we often tend to ignore or distort or minimize evidence that does not support it.

We’re all cognitive misers; we don’t expend any more mental energy, most of the time, than we need to.

When I teach Introductory Psychology, as I do here at Emory, it’s actually one of the very first things I teach my students.

But in fact there are many more myths that also probably derive in part from illusory correlation.

The concept of confirmation bias is the idea that when we have an idea—it doesn’t have to be a formal hypothesis—but when we have an idea we tend to seek out evidence for it, and we often tend to ignore or distort or minimize evidence that does not support it.

Many people believe that mentally ill people are at much greater risk for violence, for example, than non-mentally ill people, when in fact the substantial majority—probably 90-99% of people with mental illness—are not at heightened risk for violence.

So maybe you want to take a stroll for us, a little bit, through some of the reasons why we have these myths.

Confirmation bias is a biggie, I think—that probably initially accounts for why people are drawn to these myths and also sustained belief.

Someone comes in with the belief that full moons are related to all kinds of strange behaviors, like homicides and suicides and psychiatric hospital admissions and dog bites and you name it.

I think that’s one of my favorite reasons why some of these myths persist—because of these errors in our thinking.

And that will often result in a phenomenon that psychologists call “illusory correlation.”

Confirmation bias is a biggie, I think—that probably initially accounts for why people are drawn to these myths and also sustained belief.

But people probably perceive a correlation that’s not there or at least a correlation that’s actually pretty low in most cases and perceive it as a very powerful correlation because they remember those cases when someone was mentally ill and committed a violent crime.