Cognition: Decision bias in classification

Post date: Jun 20, 2014 2:24:40 PM

This research examines the influence of relative frequency (base-rate) sensitivity, and the benefits and costs of decision outcomes, on learning of decision rules. For example, medical doctors are faced with making diagnostic judgments (i.e., classification judgments) and must weigh the potential consequences of being right or wrong. Often these decisions are characterized by significant uncertainty, and other sources of information, such as relative frequency of possible diagnoses, can guide decision making.

Variables such as base-rate and payoff likely play a significant role in cybersecurity, with Internet and e-mail users constantly having to weight these factors into their decisions about the safeness or legitimacy of online content.