Cognition: Mental Representations, Problem Solving, and Decision Making - Foundations for Designing User-Centered Systems - page 190

Fig. 6.15 Which cards do
you need to turn over to
verify that if a card has a
vowel on one side then it has
an even number on the other
side? (Cards have a letter on
one side and a number on the
other)

A D 4 7

more concrete way, using sealed/unsealed envelopes (so the flap was open/closed)
which had stamps of different denominations on the other side. They then asked
participants to prove or disprove the rule: ''if an envelope is sealed then it has a 5p
stamp on the other side.'' With a more concrete representation, 22 out of 24 people
gave the correct answer. Making problems more concrete generally makes them
easier.
For a more detailed psychological description of the issues surrounding per-
formance on various versions of the Wason reasoning task see, for example,
Quinlan and Dyson ( 2008 ).

6.4.6.2 Breakout Box: Why Don't Users Do What They Should?

At this point in your reading you may have realized that users do not always do
what they should, that they do not always act in their own interests. It is one thing
to make mistakes, slips, and errors (covered in the chapter on errors, and which
you can infer from the memory chapter); it is another to hold quite wrong beliefs
continuously contradicted by the world, and to continue to perform poorly based
on these beliefs. Why does this happen?
Academics use other phrases, such as why smart people can be so foolish
(Sternberg 2004 ) and how people cannot recognize their own incompetence
(Dunning et al. 2003 ). Generally, this area can be examined as a type of meta-
cognition—do you know what you know and can you judge your performance in
quantitative ways (how good is it?) and qualitative ways (how is it good and how
can it be improved?).
Sternberg ( 2004 ) notes five factors that can lead to foolishness—poor decision
making and problem solving in leaders. These are as follows: (a) Unrealistic
optimism, assuming things will work out or strategies will work. (b) Egocentrism,
focusing on your own goals rather than a broader set of goals. Sternberg notes
cases where focusing on short-term goals hurts long-term goals, and where not
looking after others leads to significant problems arising for the leader. (c) A sense
of omniscience, assuming you know all you need to know to make the decision.
(d) A sense of omnipotence, assuming that you are competent in one domain and
thus in all, and that the plans you put into action will work. (e) A sense of