ROLE OF NUMERACY AND COGNITIVE REFLECTION IN BAYESIAN REASONING WITH NATURAL FREQUENCIES

• Authors: Sirota Miroslav , Juanchich Marie
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The facilitative effect of natural frequencies in Bayesian reasoning task is a robust phenomenon. However, it does not benefit everyone the same way and the reasons why remain open. This paper examines to what extent numeracy and cognitive reflection can account for individual differences in Bayesian task performance. Our results showed that participants with good numerical ability and cognitive reflection performed better than participant with lower numerical ability and cognitive reflection. Furthermore, mediation analysis showed that numeracy does not mediate the effect of cognitive reflection on Bayesian performance. The role of numeracy in performance was clarified and cognitive reflection was identified as a new determinant of Bayesian performance. Numeracy and cognitive reflection account for the individual differences of the facilitative effect of the natural frequencies in the process of belief revision. These findings have implications for the debate on the nature of the facilitation effect and for improving communication of risk, such as informed consent concerning treatment.

Keywords

EN

BAYESIAN INFERENCE; COGNITIVE REFLECTION; MEDIATION ANALYSIS; NATURAL FREQUENCIES; NUMERACY

Discipline

• PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOLOGY

• Publisher: Institute of Experimental Psychology, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Studia Psychologica
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 53
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 151-161
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Sirota Miroslav

author

Juanchich Marie

• Miroslav Sirota, Ustav experimentalnej psychologie SAV, Dubravska cesta 9, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

11SKAAAA096921