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True/False: People are good at using base rates when just given base rates, but not when combined with diagnostic info

User Onur Topal
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Final answer:

The true statement indicates that while people can use base rates effectively on their own, they struggle to integrate these rates with specific, diagnostic information, often leading to inaccuracies in judgment such as the base rate fallacy, especially in high-stakes environments like medicine.

Step-by-step explanation:

The statement posed in the question is True. Humans often struggle with appropriately integrating base rates and diagnostic information when making decisions. When presented with base rates alone, people can sometimes use this statistical information effectively. However, when diagnostic information (details about a specific case) is added to the mix, people tend to overweight this information and underweight the base rates, leading to less accurate judgments. This phenomenon is related to what is known as the base rate fallacy, where the general information is ignored in favor of individual data points or stories.

In a medical context, even though doctors may have the necessary knowledge, the complexity and urgency of situations they encounter can impede their ability to correctly apply base rates in conjunction with diagnostic information, resulting in less optimal decisions.

User IronMan
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