Cognitive Abilities and Behavioral Biases

We use a simple, three-item test for cognitive abilities to investigate whether established behavioral biases that play a prominent role in behavioral economics and finance are related to cognitive abilities. We find that higher test scores on the Cognitive Reflection Test of Frederick (2005) indeed are correlated with lower incidences of the conjunction fallacy, conservatism in updating probabilities, and overconfidence. Test scores are also significantly related to subjects’ time and risk preferences. We find no influence on anchoring. However, even if biases are lower for people with higher cognitive abilities, they still remain substantial.cognitive reflection test, behavioral finance, biases, cognitive abilities

Evaluating the effects of self-practice/self-reflection on cognitive flexibility, empathy, insight, self-compassion, self-monitoring, and stress in postgraduate cognitive behaviour therapy trainees : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

There is considerable evidence to suggest that cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) training programs can effectively enhance therapists’ CBT knowledge and skills. In response, research is now beginning to establish which specific training strategies are most effective in developing which CBT skills and competencies. Self-practice/self-reflection (SP/SR) is an experiential training strategy used to enhance CBT training and the ongoing professional development of CBT practitioners. Self-practice/self-reflection provides therapists with a structured experience of using CBT on themselves (self-practice) and reflecting on that experience (self-reflection). In order to build on previous SP/SR research, the aim of the current study was to explore the effects of SP/SR on six specific dimensions of CBT therapist competence: cognitive flexibility, empathy, insight, self-compassion, self-monitoring, and stress, among postgraduate CBT trainees. Seven students completing a SP/SR program as part of the Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy at Massey University were recruited to participate in the study. Quantitative data using six self-report measures of therapist competence was collected at five critical time points pertaining to the participants’ SP/SR program: baseline, pre-intervention, midpoint, post-intervention, and follow-up. Qualitative data was collected from participants’ written reflections. A mixed method design using descriptive quantitative and qualitative thematic analysis provided valuable quantitative (and some qualitative) support for the use of SP/SR as a CBT training and development strategy, particularly when targeting these six dimensions of CBT therapist competence

On Cognitive Ability and Learning in a Beauty Contest

We reinvestigate a version of the beauty contest originally developed by Keynes (1936) with a focus on cognitive reflection. Using a sample of 166 undergraduate students at a regional university in Florida, we confirm previous research by Burnham et al. (2009) that cognitive reflection, as measured by Frederick's (2005) cognitive reflection test, matters in the first round of the game; players with a higher CRT score pick significantly lower numbers, and their responses cluster more. Unlike previous research, however, we find that cognitive ability is important only when faced with a new situation. In subsequent rounds of the game, cognitive ability is subordinate to a learning effect and players' responses and the variability of responses are not significantly related to CRT scores. This finding is important in financial markets, since it implies that anticipating the decisions and actions of other players is a function of experience, not necessarily cognitive ability.beauty contest, cognitive reflection test, cognitive ability, CRT

Cognitive effort in the Beauty Contest Game

This paper analyzes cognitive effort in 6 different one-shot p-beauty games. We use both Raven and Cognitive Reflection tests to identify subjects' abilities. We find that the Raven test does not provide any insight on beauty contest game playing but CRT does: subjects with higher scores on this test are more prone to play dominant strategies.Beauty Contest Game, Raven, Cognitive Reflection Test

Circle talks as situated experiential learning: Context, identity, and knowledgeability in \u27learning from reflection\u27

This article presents research that used ethnographic and sociolinguistic methods to study ways participants learn through reflection when carried out as a “circle talk.” The data indicate that participants in the event (a) invoked different contextual frames that (b) implicated them in various identity positions, which (c) affected how they could express their knowledge. These features worked together to generate socially shared meanings that enabled participants to jointly achieve conceptualization—the ideational role “reflection” is presumed to play in the experiential learning process. The analysis supports the claim that participants generate new knowledge in reflection, but challenges individualistic and cognitive assumptions regarding how this occurs. The article builds on situated views of experiential learning by showing how knowledge can be understood as socially shared and how learning and identity formation are mutually entailing processes

Metacognition and Reflection by Interdisciplinary Experts: Insights from Cognitive Science and Philosophy

Interdisciplinary understanding requires integration of insights from different perspectives, yet it appears questionable whether disciplinary experts are well prepared for this. Indeed, psychological and cognitive scientific studies suggest that expertise can be disadvantageous because experts are often more biased than non-experts, for example, or fixed on certain approaches, and less flexible in novel situations or situations outside their domain of expertise. An explanation is that experts’ conscious and unconscious cognition and behavior depend upon their learning and acquisition of a set of mental representations or knowledge structures. Compared to beginners in a field, experts have assembled a much larger set of representations that are also more complex, facilitating fast and adequate perception in responding to relevant situations. This article argues how metacognition should be employed in order to mitigate such disadvantages of expertise: By metacognitively monitoring and regulating their own cognitive processes and representations, experts can prepare themselves for interdisciplinary understanding. Interdisciplinary collaboration is further facilitated by team metacognition about the team, tasks, process, goals, and representations developed in the team. Drawing attention to the need for metacognition, the article explains how philosophical reflection on the assumptions involved in different disciplinary perspectives must also be considered in a process complementary to metacognition and not completely overlapping with it. (Disciplinary assumptions are here understood as determining and constraining how the complex mental representations of experts are chunked and structured.) The article concludes with a brief reflection on how the process of Reflective Equilibrium should be added to the processes of metacognition and philosophical reflection in order for experts involved in interdisciplinary collaboration to reach a justifiable and coherent form of interdisciplinary integration. An Appendix of “Prompts or Questions for Metacognition” that can elicit metacognitive knowledge, monitoring, or regulation in individuals or teams is included at the end of the article

Using web-based peer assessment in fostering deep learning in computer programming

Active learning is considered by many academics as an important and effective learning strategy. Students can improve the quality of their work by developing their higher cognitive skills through reflection on their own ideas and practice of analytic and evaluative skills. Peer assessment is one of the successful approaches which can be used to enhance this deep learning. In this paper we discuss a novel web-based peer assessment system to support computer programming courses. We discuss the educational rational for the system, and the deep learning theory, report on its deployment on large programming modules. The preliminary results indicate that the system has successfully helped students to develop their higher cognitive skills in learning computer programming

Criterion and incremental validity of the emotion regulation questionnaire.

Although research on emotion regulation (ER) is developing, little attention has been paid to the predictive power of ER strategies beyond established constructs. The present study examined the incremental validity of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ; Gross and John, 2003), which measures cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, over and above the Big Five personality factors. It also extended the evidence for the measure's criterion validity to yet unexamined criteria. A university student sample (N = 203) completed the ERQ, a measure of the Big Five, and relevant cognitive and emotion-laden criteria. Cognitive reappraisal predicted positive affect beyond personality, as well as experiential flexibility and constructive self-assertion beyond personality and affect. Expressive suppression explained incremental variance in negative affect beyond personality and in experiential flexibility beyond personality and general affect. No incremental effects were found for worry, social anxiety, rumination, reflection, and preventing negative emotions. Implications for the construct validity and utility of the ERQ are discussed

Taking the initiative. What characterizes leaders?

Taking the initiative is a crucial element of leadership and an important asset for many jobs. We assess leadership in a game in which it emerges spontaneously since people have a non-obvious possibility to take the initiative. Combining this game with small experimental games and questionnaires, we investigate the motives and personality characteristics that entail leadership. We find efficiency concerns, generosity, and attention seeking as important determinants of leadership. Response time patterns and the results from the cognitive reflection test show that cognitive resources are relevant in the decision to lead.leading-by-example, social preferences, experiment