Question

A local basketball team has won three championships in a row and is on a winning streak going into the final game. Explain how their fans might use the following to explain a loss in the final game: 1. Hindsight bias 2. Overconfidence 3. The tendency to perceive patterns in random events (illusory correlation)

Answer 1

Answer:

Fans might display a hindsight bias in the aftermath of a loss by claiming to have seen signs that the team would lose. Hindsight bias involves the tendency for people to perceive events that has already occurred as having been more predictable than it actually was. The fans may claim that they knew all along that the defeat was coming after such an impressive run of wins.

Some fans would blame to defeat on over confidence, citing that the team was to overconfident in their approach to the game having been a a good winning streak. They may point out that the overconfidence of the team led to them under rating their opponents which led to the defeats.

Lastly, fans might perceive the loss as the necessary outcome of a pattern (or a violation of a pattern) when, in fact, it was down to random events. The fans may claim that sooner or later the defeat would come after having one so many games in a role.