Why good thoughts block better ones: The mechanism of the pernicious Einstellung (set) effect

被引:136
作者
Bilalic, Merim [1 ]
McLeod, Peter [1 ]
Gobet, Fernand [2 ]
机构
[1] Univ Oxford, Dept Expt Psychol, Oxford OX1 3UD, England
[2] Brunel Univ, Sch Social Sci, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, Middx, England
基金
英国经济与社会研究理事会;
关键词
Einstellung (set) effect; Fixation; Problem solving; Expertise; Eye movements; Chess; Confirmation bias; Thinking;
D O I
10.1016/j.cognition.2008.05.005
中图分类号
B84 [心理学];
学科分类号
04 ; 0402 ;
摘要
The Einstellung (set) effect occurs when the first idea that comes to mind, triggered by familiar features of a problem, prevents a better solution being found. It has been shown to affect both people facing novel problems and experts within their field of expertise. We show that it works by influencing mechanisms that determine what information is attended to. Having found one solution, expert chess players reported that they were looking for a better one. But their eye movements showed that they continued to look at features of the problem related to the solution they had already thought of. The mechanism which allows the first schema activated by familiar aspects of a problem to control the subsequent direction of attention may contribute to a wide range of biases both in everyday and expert thought - from confirmation bias in hypothesis testing to the tendency of scientists to ignore results that do not fit their favoured theories. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
引用
收藏
页码:652 / 661
页数:10
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