Research Assistant Position: Introspective Accuracy in Judgment and Decision-Making
Adam Morris and Professor Fiery Cushman, Psychology/FAS
fall term
 

How well can people perceive the workings of their own minds? This is a fundamental question in cognitive science, but a difficult one to measure. In this project, we will develop measures of introspective accuracy in judgment and decision-making -- i.e. how well people can perceive the processes underlying their judgments & decisions. In a series of online behavioral experiments, people will complete various judgment tasks and report the processes they believed they used; we will then infer (using statistical/computational modeling) the actual processes they used, and correlate these objective metrics with people’s self-reports to obtain a measure of introspective accuracy. Responsibilities: The largest responsibility for the student will be programming: programming experiments in Javascript, computational models in MATLAB, and data analysis scripts in R. Once the experiments are programmed and we have pilot data analyzed, the student will be involved in interpreting the data and designing subsequent iterations of the experiments. Along the way, the student will get substantial exposure to & mentoring in experimental design, cognitive computational modeling, data analysis, and the general psychological research process. Requirements and Expectations: A strong background in programming is required (ideally Javascript, MATLAB, and R -- but if the student is a strong programmer and needs to pick up 1 or 2 of these languages as we go, that's fine). The student will be expected to work 10hrs/week (with flexible timing) and attend lab meetings; the position will be for course credit. To Apply: Contact Adam Morris at adam.mtc.morris@gmail.com. (posted 8/2021)