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Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Heuristics in diagnoses in psychology
In lecture I was taught that not only doctors make mistakes with their diagnoses but so do psychologists and psychiatrists. They also fall victim to making heuristics (quick decisions or short-cuts). One problem that occurs is the illusory correlation which is a psychological heuristic that involves seeing relationships one expects to see even when no such relationship exists. They can also error in confirmation bias which is presumptive questioning that will lead the interviewer to the diagnoses he or she seeks. This occurred frequently in the 1980's and 1990's with the onslaught of repressed memories diagnoses. It was done by the framing of the questions that leads the patient down a road of false memories until they seem to be real. And this in turn gives the proof of the diagnoses. Then the hindsight bias can occur which is the clinician feeling I-knew-it-all-along. This is not to say that this always happens but just that it can and does happen.
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