Julie, Of course, you can use the old standby of asking students if there are more words in the English language that start with the letter "k" or have "k" as the third letter. One exercise I use is to read the students a list of names at the beginning of class. The list contains male and female names. There are a few more male names on the list. But just about all the female names are famous ones while none of the male names is. So, when I get to the heuristic later in the class period and ask them whether there were more males or females on the list of names I read to them earlier, they usually believe there were more female names because those are more available. However, sometimes by the time I get to this little demo my students have figured out that I am a tricky social psychologist and they guess that there were more males. Even though they may have "spoiled" my demo, they at least can explain why they guessed what they did and why the more common response is "females." Also, even if they have guessed that there were more males on the list, if I asked them to write down all the names they can remember they see that female names are much more available. Let me know if you hear of any more ideas. Jon =============== Jon Mueller Professor of Psychology North Central College 30 N. Brainard St. Naperville, IL 60540 voice: (630)-637-5329 fax: (630)-637-5121 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu ( http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/ )
>>> Julie Osland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 3/20/2008 10:17 AM >>> Hi Tipsters-- I'm going to be covering heuristics in a week, and I need demonstration/activity for the availability heuristic. In years past, I used a handout comparing causes of death (such as asthma, lightning strike, stroke, tornado, all accidents, etc) but have found it to no longer work (most students answer the items correctly). Any ideas of something new and different to try? Thanks, Julie Osland -- Dr. Julie A. Osland, M.A., Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology Wheeling Jesuit University 316 Washington Avenue Wheeling, WV 26003 Office: (304) 243-2329 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
