One of the current topics in research on the Cognitive reflection test (CRT) is its growing familiarity among the general public. Surprisingly, Bialek and Pennycook (2017) showed that previous exposure does not diminish the CRT’s predictive power in heuristics and biases (H&B) tasks, but proposed that the relationship is moderated by analytic thinking, a conjecture tested in the present study. Participants (N = 365) filled in the CRT, Need for Cognition scale, and a battery of H&B problems. While the CRT did retain its predictive power in the H&B performance, regardless of participants’ self-reported thinking dispositions and exposure, both of these factors moderated the relationship, such that exposure increased CRT’s predictive power in H&B tasks, albeit only among high-NFC individuals. Present results converge with studies showing that prior exposure does not invalidate the use of CRT, while offering some novel evidence for the metacognitive disadvantage account proposed by Bialek and Pennycook (2017).
Delay discounting, the tendency to choose a smaller-sooner reward over a larger-later reward, has been conceptualized either as a personal preference or as a rational thinking component. In this study (N = 397), the associations between monetary delay discounting – constructed as a rational thinking task – and cognitive individual difference measures were examined. Participants with higher general cognitive ability, cognitive reflection, scientific reasoning, and objective numeracy had a weaker tendency to discount delayed rewards, the opposite was true for those with higher intuitive thinking disposition and bias susceptibility. Bias susceptibility predicted delay discounting over and above all other cognitive predictors. The results partially support the assumption about a common basis of delay discounting and susceptibility to cognitive biases (as a rational thinking indicator). Because of the relatively low explained variance in delay discounting by cognitive variables, however, ample room is left for other potential predictors in the monetary delay discounting tasks.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to examine factors related to questionable health behaviour, such as avoiding recommended preventive guidelines. This paper aimed to explore whether behaviour reflecting active avoidance of preventive measures against COVID-19 (curfew regulations, hygiene, facial masks, and social distancing) was best predicted by personality traits (Big Five), health beliefs, or feelings of threat. Thousand and twenty-four adults (486 men, 536 women) aged between 18 – 81 years participated in the study, which was run in early November 2020, when the second wave in Slovakia started to gain momentum and a strict lockdown was issued. Results showed that health threat was connected with having fewer questionable health beliefs, while economic threat was connected with having more questionable health beliefs, and together these factors were the strongest predictors of avoiding preventive regulations. From personality traits, higher Extraversion and lower Agreeableness predicted questionable health behaviour, but together they added only 2.4% of explained variance. Our results highlight the fact that one year after the outbreak, the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer only (if it ever was) a health threat. The shift from health focus to the economic and socio-political threat should not be taken lightly, as it has implications for adherence to preventive measures against COVID-19 and people’s beliefs regarding the pandemic.
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