For this task, you will prepare a PowerPoint presentation on heuristics (mental shortcuts) to be delivered to undergraduate students taking a social psychology course. Your presentation should be organized as follows:
Provide an overview of the concept of heuristics. As part of your overview, explain how these mental shortcuts can undermine the need for social cognition or accuracy in our perceptions of the world around us.
Select 5 heuristics (mental shortcuts) from the following list:
- Unrealistic optimism
- Blaming the victim
- Stereotypes
- Representativeness
- Availability
- Anchoring
- Adjustment
- Priming
For each selected heuristic, locate a news article in which it is present to demonstrate to the audience:
- How effective the heuristic is in persuading the reader in favor of the authors' views.
- Whether self-justification is present within the article.
- Whether the need for self-esteem is being used in any way to persuade the reader in favor of the ideas/beliefs of the author. If so, is it effective?
- Finally, conclude with each article connects with the two approaches - 1) the need for accuracy or truth, and 2) the need for self-esteem.
Incorporate appropriate animations, transitions, and graphics as well as "speaker notes" for each slide. The speaker notes may be comprised of brief paragraphs or bulleted lists.
Support your presentation with at least five scholarly resources. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources may be included.
Length: 12-15 slides (with a separate reference slide)
Notes Length: 100-150 words for each slide