Want to study Heuristics, Decision Making, Cognitive Biases. What PhD type?

[samanthers]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi Everyone,

In October I will finish my last class for my BA in Psych. I know I want to go to graduate school, but my area of interest doesn't seem to lend itself to one discrete type of program. Or if it does, I don't know what it would be.

I'm most interested in studying decision making and how people react and integrate when learning new information. I'm interested in cognitive biases and the lengths people go to in order to avoid cognitive dissonance.

What I'm not clear on is what kind of programs I should be looking at. Cognitive Psych? Social Psych?

 

[Doctor Eliza]

I think a lot depends on the specifics of your questions. Decision-making about interpersonal relationships? Business decisions? Exam questions? Etc....

What I would do is look up journal articles that are similar to what you want to do. Look to see where those profs are working and go from there. That is how I decided between developmental and clinical. It also gave me ideas about some POI's to look into.

Best,
Dr. E

 

[samanthers]

I'm interested in these questions in the context of beliefs and viewpoints.

For instance:

Why do some people think vaccines cause Autism? Why do people reject scientific data? Why do people reverse the importance of evidence and theory, promoting theories and disregarding countering evidence? What are the basic building blocks and systems that allow humans to be so biased in the face of scientific data and research? What cognitive biases are causing errors in judgement, and can their effects be reversed or lessened? Do these problems effect some populations more than others?

 

[serotonin]

Cognitive psych PhD would be my recommendation. Fun stuff!

 

[bmedclinic]

I'm sure it happens many places, but the first place that comes to mind for me is UGA for their cognitive psych program. Pretty sure they have a pretty strong emphasis on your desired area.

 

[thewesternsky]

I agree-- probably cognitive psych. There are some social psychologists who study related questions, as well. This field (e.g., judgment and decision making) kind of lies at the border of cognitive and social psychology.

 

[PsychPhDone]

In our program, you'd be housed in Quantitative...but at many schools that would fall under Cognitive. I'd find people who do research you like and see which area houses them at their school.

 

[Doctor Eliza]

This NY Times piece made me think of you:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/m...conspiracy-theories.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Dr. E

 

[Ollie123]

I'd find people who do research you like and see which area houses them at their school.

This. Just do some lit searches for the work you find interesting and figure out where they are at. My guess is mostly cognitive but there will be some exceptions.

Truth be told I'm not convinced the particular area makes a whole lot of differences. The lines are blurry and many programs will have social/cognitive/etc. mixed together under a broad "Experimental" umbrella anyways. Particularly for research-only PhDs (i.e. not clinical or IO) the mentor is far and above the most important factor.

 

[WJPSYCH]

Dr. Natalie Shook studies cognitive bias and decision making. While she is a social psych researcher, she is currently working in a clinical psychology department. Her students have the opportunity to conduct this type of research with simultaneous training in clinical psychology. It might be worth a look for you: http://community.wvu.edu/~njs040/

 

[Chez613]

Do more of these POI's who are interested in cognitive type research (maybe things like unconscious vs conscious) exist?
I feel like I don't belong anywhere, because I like research of the cognitive type, and could see myself doing lots of research (but not forever) but also like the idea of practicing/clinical work.
Oiy.
Any ideas?

 

[serotonin]

Art Markman, Russell Poldrack, Todd Maddox all at UT Austin all study that stuff in the Cognitive Systems area of psych and are at the top of the field.