Lesson plan
Telescoping effect
In cognitive psychology, the telescoping effect (or telescoping bias) is a phenomenon in which people underestimate the recency of recent events (backward telescoping), and overestimate the recency of distant events (forward telescoping). The approximate time at which events switch from backward to forward telescoping is three years, with events occurring three years in the past being equally likely to be reported with forward telescoping bias as with backward telescoping bias. Although telescoping occurs in both the forward and backward directions, in general the effect is to increase the number of events reported too recently. This net effect in the forward direction is because forces that impair memory, such as lack of salience, also impair time perception. Telescoping leads to an over-reporting of the frequency of events. This over-reporting is because participants include events beyond the period, either events that are too recent for the target time period (backward telescoping) or events that are too old for the target time period (forward telescoping).
Article summary
In cognitive psychology, the telescoping effect (or telescoping bias) is a phenomenon in which people underestimate the recency of recent events (backward telescoping), and overestimate the recency of distant events (forward telescoping). The approximate time at which events switch from backward to forward telescoping is three years, with events occurring three years in the past being equally likely to be reported with forward telescoping bias as with backward telescoping bias. Although telescoping occurs in both the forward and backward directions, in general the effect is to increase the number of events reported too recently. This net effect in the forward direction is because forces that impair memory, such as lack of salience, also impair time perception. Telescoping leads to an over-reporting of the frequency of events. This over-reporting is because participants include events beyond the period, either events that are too recent for the target time period (backward telescoping) or events that are too old for the target time period (forward telescoping).
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.