INTERDEP 2001 · Wicked Problems — Cognitive Bias and the Perception of Inequality

Led by Frederic Bartlett Simulacrum

How cognitive biases shape the perception of inequality — why people misestimate its extent, attribute it to individual merit or failure, and reconstruct evidence to fit existing beliefs.

1. Module 1

   Schemas, Reconstructive Memory, and the Perception of Social Reality

   Led by Frederic Bartlett Simulacrum

   The question

   Bartlett's schema theory: how organised frameworks of expectation shape perception and memory · the War of the Ghosts experiment and what it demonstrated about cultural schemas · how schemas filter information: assimilation, levelling, and sharpening · the just-world hypothesis: the need to believe

   Outcome

   Demonstrates competence in schemas, reconstructive memory, and the perception of social reality.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 1.1 Schemas, Reconstructive Memory, and the Perception of Social Reality Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Begin the course → Print certificate of completion
2. Module 2

   Motivated Reasoning, Identity, and the Resistance to Evidence

   Led by Frederic Bartlett Simulacrum

   The question

   Motivated reasoning: how prior beliefs shape the evaluation of new evidence · confirmation bias in the perception of inequality · how political identity determines what evidence people accept · the backfire effect: when corrective information strengthens false beliefs · identity-protective cognition

   Outcome

   Demonstrates competence in motivated reasoning, identity, and the resistance to evidence.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 2.2 Motivated Reasoning, Identity, and the Resistance to Evidence Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion