Smarter Than We Think: When Our Brains Detect That We Are Biased.
A study was conducted to determine whether heuristic bias is attributable to a lack of conflict detection or a failure of inhibition. Data were obtained from a functional magnetic resonance imaging task, in which the activations of 13 participants' anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and right lateral...
| Published in: | Psychological Science. Vol. 19; no. 5; pp. 483 - 490 |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
HWW Temp
May 2008
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| Summary: | A study was conducted to determine whether heuristic bias is attributable to a lack of conflict detection or a failure of inhibition. Data were obtained from a functional magnetic resonance imaging task, in which the activations of 13 participants' anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and right lateral prefrontal cortex were measured while they responded to problems. Findings revealed that although the inhibition area was activated only when people ignored appealing stereotype-based responses, the conflict-detection area was activated even in instances where people reasoned in a stereotypical manner. Findings also revealed that in respect of control problems in which there was no conflict between the cued base rates and stereotype, the ACC was not engaged. Findings imply that biased decision making arises from a failure to override intuitive heuristics rather than from a failure to identify the conflict between these heuristics and normative information. |
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