Lecture Two

Don’t Believe Your Eyes

Critical Thinking about Psychology

Administration Room change Wednesday 9am seminar is in W0.01 Seminars start next week!

Last time…We talked about how common beliefs about

behaviour can be wrongHow much of the findings of psychological

research are counter-intuitiveIllusion of explanatory depth.This week we will go on to discuss other reasons

why people’s conceptions about behaviour are wrongSeeing patterns where none existLack of self-knowledge

We lack self-knowledgeOften the reasons for our behaviour are not accessible to

us

Nisbett and Ross (1977)asked participants to judge the quality of different pairs of

tights all of the tights were in fact identical the order in which the tights were presented varied

Results participants always chose the last pair presentedHowever, they always generated plausible explanations “this pair

was a better quality” or “a nicer colour”None stated that they had chosen them because they were the last

pair

Modelling Behaviour

children and neonates model the behaviour of similar things occur with smiling, nodding in

conversations, mirroring body postures, etc. adults

Provine (1986)55% of participants yawned within 5 minutes of

watching a yawn videocontagious yawning

Why do we engage in such modelling behaviour?

Chartrand and Bargh (1999) Participants interacted with confederates during an experiment

Confederate 1: shook foot Confederate 2: rubbed faceParticipant responses matched confederate behaviour

Dabbs (1969) Confederates who mimicked them were rated as having good

ideas and being well-informed

If we act like other people then they will like us more!

Seeing patterns where none existOften we can be fooled into thinking that a

relationship exists between two variables when in fact none exists

E.g. lunar effects

This tendency underpins many curious examples from pseudoscience and parapsychology

The Face on Mars!Viking 1 in 1976 took the

following image of an apparent face on Mars

Perhaps, built by martians and indicating an ancient civilisation?

Perhaps by the same people who built the ancient airstrips in Peru?

Or by those who made crop circles in Wiltshire?

Ancient Astronauts!

Crop Circles

Kermit the Frog on Mars?

The Face on Mars revisitedPhotos from later missions sadly revealed that the

face was just a bunch of hills.

Pareidolia/Apophenia These terms can be used interchangeably to

describe the tendency for us to see patterns in random data

It is particularly pronounced when we try to make sense of obscure, out of focus or partial images.

It highlights the use of “top-down” processing in cognitionWe are using our knowledge of the world to try to

make sense of ambiguous data

What is this?At first we just see

random dotsThen a picture of a

dog emergesClearly being able

to make sense of imperfect information is beneficial

But it sometimes leads to error…

Religious artefactsImages of mother Theresa in cinnamon buns

Mother Theresa A cinnamon bun

Hearing voicesWe also make errors with ambiguous sounds.In this next section we will examine some related

phenomenaElectronic Voice Phenomena (EVP)backward masking of hidden messages in rock

music

Electronic Voice PhenomenaWhen people die they become spirits – sources

of energyThey interact with electronic recording equipment

to leave messages…

Hidden MessagesIn the 1970s there was much consternation that

satanic messages were hidden in popular musicThese messages only became apparent when

they were played backwardshttp://jeffmilner.com/backmasking.htm

Interpreting ambiguous soundsOur language systems are highly developed at making

sense of ambiguous sounds.

For example, Warren (1970) examined the phoneme restoration.

Replaced a phoneme with a cough in the following sentencesIt was found that the (cough)eel was on the axle It was found that the (cough)eel was on the orangeIt was found that the (cough)eel was on the fishing-rodIt was found that the (cough)eel was on the table

We make sense of ambiguous sounds using our prior knowledge.

So what have we learned today?Explaining human behaviour isn’t always

straightforwardWe don’t always have insights into our

behaviourWe often see patterns which do not actually

existIn order to draw sensible conclusions about

the nature of behaviour we need to think critically about psychology.

It’s my second week here and I really want to do some background reading…

Alcock, J.E. Electronic Voice Phenomena: Voices of the Dead? Skeptical EnquirerAvailable online at: http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/evp.html

Stafford, T. (2007). Isn’t it all just obvious? The Psychologist, 20,2,94-95.

Wilson, Timothy D. (2002). Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious. Cambridge, Ma.: Harvard University Press. Chapter 5.