Date on Senior Honors Thesis
5-2022
Document Type
Senior Honors Thesis
Degree Name
B.S.
Cooperating University
University of Louisville
Department
Psychological and Brain Sciences
Author's Keywords
cognitive reflection, explicit induction, contradictory beliefs, dual processing
Abstract
Currently, there is extensive research within psychology about two distinct processing models where one is fast, automatic, and relatively effortless and the other is slow, systematic, and effortful. One mechanism of effortful processing is cognitive reflection which is one’s ability to reflect on their intuition. While there is research on explicit instructions of certain cognitive mechanisms and implicit induction of cognitive reflection, there is a lack of research on the explicit induction of cognitive reflection specifically. In this study, two techniques were investigated to see if cognitive reflection could be explicitly induced. Participants either read a prompt before beginning the CRT, received feedback about the incorrect and correct answers following each CRT question, or simply took the CRT without any induction techniques. Additionally, a yea-yeaing score was collected to measure how often a person agrees with a statement and its opposite (i.e., endorses contradictory beliefs). The results revealed that a prompt prior to CRT completion is an effective explicit induction technique that significantly increases numerical CRT scores. Contradictory belief holding was not impacted by explicit induction of cognitive reflection. Implications and future directions for this research are explored.
Recommended Citation
Powers, Margaret, "Inducing cognitive reflection and its impact on contradictory beliefs." (2022). College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses. Paper 274.
Retrieved from https://ir.library.louisville.edu/honors/274
Lay Summary
In psychology, it is generally accepted that there are two modes of processing information. One mode is relatively fast, automatic, and effortless while the other is slow, systematic, and effortful. One way people engage in more effortful thinking is through cognitive reflection, which is when one reflects on their intuitions. A person’s tendency to engage in cognitive reflection can be measured using the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT). Additionally, this study investigated contradictory belief holding (i.e., how often a person endorses a statement and its opposite). Participants were split into three conditions, they either read a prompt before beginning the CRT, received feedback about the incorrect and correct answers following each CRT question, or simply took the CRT without any induction techniques. The results revealed that using a prompt prior to CRT completion is an effective way to explicitly induce cognitive reflection on the numerical CRT. Contradictory belief holding was not impacted by explicit induction of cognitive reflection.
