Rejoinder: Laplace’s theories of cognitive illusions, heuristics and biases

Joshua B. Miller; Andrew Gelman

doi:10.1214/20-sts779

Rejoinder: Laplace’s theories of cognitive illusions, heuristics and biases

Statistical Science ◽

10.1214/20-sts779 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 175-177

Author(s):

Joshua B. Miller ◽

Andrew Gelman

Keyword(s):

Heuristics And Biases ◽

Cognitive Illusions

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The questionable utility of “cognitive ability” in explaining cognitive illusions

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x00363439 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 23 (5) ◽

pp. 678-679 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ralph Hertwig

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Ability ◽

Heuristics And Biases ◽

Rule Based ◽

Class Inclusion ◽

Cognitive Illusions ◽

Reasoning Errors ◽

Human Capacity

The notion of “cognitive ability” leads to paradoxical conclusions when invoked to explain Inhelder and Piaget's research on class inclusion reasoning and research on the inclusion rule in the heuristics-and-biases program. The vague distinction between associative and rule-based reasoning overlooks the human capacity for semantic and pragmatic inferences, and consequently, makes intelligent inferences look like reasoning errors.

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Tversky and Kahneman’s Cognitive Illusions: Who Can Solve Them, and Why?

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.584689 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Georg Bruckmaier ◽

Stefan Krauss ◽

Karin Binder ◽

Sven Hilbert ◽

Martin Brunner

Keyword(s):

Human Mind ◽

Bayesian Reasoning ◽

Heuristics And Biases ◽

School Students ◽

Confirmatory Factor ◽

Item Level ◽

Cognitive Illusions ◽

Wason Card Selection Task ◽

Brain Teasers ◽

Linda Problem

In the present paper we empirically investigate the psychometric properties of some of the most famous statistical and logical cognitive illusions from the “heuristics and biases” research program by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, who nearly 50 years ago introduced fascinating brain teasers such as the famous Linda problem, the Wason card selection task, and so-called Bayesian reasoning problems (e.g., the mammography task). In the meantime, a great number of articles has been published that empirically examine single cognitive illusions, theoretically explaining people’s faulty thinking, or proposing and experimentally implementing measures to foster insight and to make these problems accessible to the human mind. Yet these problems have thus far usually been empirically analyzed on an individual-item level only (e.g., by experimentally comparing participants’ performance on various versions of one of these problems). In this paper, by contrast, we examine these illusions as a group and look at the ability to solve them as a psychological construct. Based on an sample of N = 2,643 Luxembourgian school students of age 16–18 we investigate the internal psychometric structure of these illusions (i.e., Are they substantially correlated? Do they form a reflexive or a formative construct?), their connection to related constructs (e.g., Are they distinguishable from intelligence or mathematical competence in a confirmatory factor analysis?), and the question of which of a person’s abilities can predict the correct solution of these brain teasers (by means of a regression analysis).

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