Fiveable
Fiveable

Error

Definition

Error refers to a mistake or deviation from what is considered correct or expected. In psychology, errors can occur in various cognitive processes such as memory retrieval, decision-making, perception, and judgment.

Analogy

Imagine you're playing darts with a target board. If your dart hits outside the bullseye area due to miscalculations or misjudgments in throwing technique, it would be considered an error because it didn't hit where you intended it to go.

Related terms

Cognitive bias: Cognitive bias refers to systematic errors in thinking that occur when people deviate from rationality or objective reasoning due to unconscious influences or faulty decision-making processes.

Memory distortion: Memory distortion is a type of error that happens when our memories become altered or modified over time due to various factors like forgetting details or incorporating false information.

Perceptual error: Perceptual error occurs when our perception of the external world is distorted or inaccurate, leading to misinterpretations or misunderstandings of sensory information.

collegeable - rocket pep

Are you a college student?

  • Study guides for the entire semester

  • 200k practice questions

  • Glossary of 50k key terms - memorize important vocab



© 2024 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.

AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.


© 2024 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.

AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.