Classifying air threats with heuristics. The Journal of Behavioral Decision Making (Jan. 2...

Classifying air threats with heuristics. The Journal of Behavioral Decision Making (Jan. 2007) published astudy on the use of heuristics to classify the threat levelof approaching aircraft. Of special interest was the useof a fast and frugal heuristic—a computationally simpleprocedure for making judgments with limited information—named “Take-the-Best-for-Classification” (TTBC).The subjects were 48 men and women, some from aCanadian Forces reserve unit, others university students. Each subject was presented with a radar screen on which simulated approaching aircraft were identified with asterisks. By using the computer mouse to click on the asterisk, one could receive further information about the aircraft. The goal was to identify the aircraft as “friend” or “foe” as fast as possible. Half the subjects were given cue-based instructions for determining the type of aircraft, while the other half were given pattern-based instructions. The researcher also classified the heuristic strategy used by the subject as TTB-C, Guess, or Other. Data on the two variables Instruction type and Strategy, measured for each of the 48 subjects, are saved in the AIRTHREAT file. (Data on the first and last five subjects are shown in the table below.) Do the data provide sufficient evidence at α = .05 to indicate that choice of heuristic strategy depends on type of instruction provided? How about at α = .01?

Based on Bryant, D. J. “Classifying simulated air threats with fast and frugal heuristics.” Journal of Behavioral Decision Making , Vol. 20, January 2007 ( Appendix C ).