Question

Jamal is taking an introductory psychology course. One afternoon Jamal explains to his mother that punishment can lead to unwanted results and have a lasting impact on someone, she replies “I knew that!”. However, Jamal is surprised since his mother normally thinks people should receive greater punishment as children. Jama's mother is demonstrating:

A.confirmation bias.
B.anecdotal evidence.
C.commonsense bias.
D.hindsight bias.

Answer 1

The answer is letter D, hindsight bias.

Step-by-step explanation:

A hindsight bias occurs when a person starts stating something that was contradictory to what he said earlier. This is also known as the "I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon." In this case, the person also states that he already knew what the outcome would be, even before it was predicted.

So, in the situation above, Jama's mother is clearly demonstrating the hindsight bias. Her earlier opinion that "people should receive greater punishment as children" contradicted her approval of Jama's opinion that "punishment can lead to unwanted results and have a lasting impact on someone." By saying, "I knew that!" Jama's mother clearly overestimated her ability to predict the outcome.

Thus, this explains the answer, letter D.