Cognitive bias studies, from Charlie Poole (EPID705):

A social cognitive bias: groupthink
The tendency of a desire for harmony within a group to override a realistic appraisal of alternatives.

Banerjee AV. A simple model of herd behavior. Q J Econ 1992;107:797-817.

Bikchandani S, Hirshleifer D, Welcho I. A theory of fads, fashion, custom, and cultural change as informational cascades. J Pol Econ 1992;100:992-1026.

Nadeau R, Cloutier E, Guay JH. New evidence about the existence of a bandwagon effect in the opinion formation process. Int Pol Sci Rev 1993;14:203-213.

Turner M, Pratkanis A. Twenty-five years of groupthink research. Org Behav Hum Decision Proc 1998;73:104-115.

A cognitive heuristic: the introspection illusion
The tendency to assess others’ biases by their overt behavior and one’s own by
looking inward, searching one’s thoughts and feelings for biased motives.

Pronin E, Kugler MB. Valuing thoughts, ignoring behavior: the introspection illusion as a source of the bias blink spot. J Exp Soc Psychol 2007;43:565-578.

A cognitive bias: false-consensus effect
The tendency to overestimate the degree to which others agree with us.
The tendency to believe that our view is the majority view.

Marks G, Miller N. Ten years of research on the false-consensus effect: an empirical and theoretical review. Psychol Bull 1987;102:72-90.

Lecture 3:
A cognitive bias: Backfire effect
Evidence that should weaken a belief strengthens it.
Evidence that should strengthen a belief weakens it.
Example 1
Some political conservatives were given evidence that adverse neighborhood conditions increase the prevalence of type 2 diabetes. Others were not. Those given the evidence were less likely to support measures to improve the conditions.

Gollust SE, Lantz PM, Ubel PA. The polarizing effect of news media messages about the social determinants of health. Am J Public Health 2009;99:2160-2167.

News article: Making a selfish generation by fiat, Science 11 Jan 2013 – using the Trust game to see the impact of China’s one-child policy.