1. Announcements Grading Scale now posted on website Updated grades w/ Hmwrk #2 on website Research Reflection Report due by Friday! Email TA questions by noon on Thurs.

2. Psychology in the Real World

3. Pseudoscience in Practice Why do some clinicians use pseudoscientific methods? New treatments/assessments use marketing that overstates their effectiveness Why do they not see that they are invalid & ineffective?

4. Learning from Experience Experienced clinicians are not better at clinical judgments than: Less experienced clinicians Graduate students Trained lay judges Why is it so hard to learn from clinical experience? Faulty cognitive processes Inaccurate feedback

5. Cognitive Processes Biases = beliefs or preconceptions that adversely influence clinicians’ interpretations of available data Confirmatory Race, social class, gender, age, labeling Hindsight

6. Cognitive Processes Heuristics = simple rules or shortcuts that describe how clinicians make judgments, treatment decisions or both Availability heuristic – the role of memory in judgmental error

7. Feedback in Clinical Practice Most clinicians don’t receive any feedback When they do receive feedback, its often misleading Patients agree with incorrect interpretations

8. Summary Clinicians use pseudoscientific methods in part because they have not learned that they do not work Cognitive processes & feedback errors Clinicians should not use an assessment instrument or treatment method solely because it seems to work in clinical practice

9. Summary Clinicians also need to be aware of the research on clinical judgment Do admissions criteria to graduate programs need to change? Admit only those scientifically minded?