Clinical Decision Making and Mental Health
On Challenges in Assessment, Junk Science and Social Trends
Abstract
Judgement and decision making are rife with cognitive biases. Despite their everyday fitness, these can affect clinical assessment, which may lead to erroneous decisions. All specialists are prone to bias; these vulnerabilities permeate social strata, while people underestimate their own proneness to these errors. In mental health, statistical prediction and empirically robust tests should compensate for such errors. Therefore, the paper reviews basic heuristics and associated biases in practice, namely, representativeness, availability, and anchoring. Furthermore, it is elaborated how clinical decision making is influenced by social factors, thus giving rise to groupthink. Experience without adequate training might even worsen decision making by overconfidence. Psychoeducation on biases, among others, shows promise in countering them. In addition, examples that demonstrate in which way heuristics and biases contribute to the receptiveness to popular psychology, myths, pseudoscience, misinformation, alternative health methods and radicalization, are provided in the paper. Relativization of evidence and disinformation present crucial challenges to the acceptance of science and to the democratic society. Science communication should influence market offering and consult social psychological communication research in combatting disinformation, useful for both undergraduates and the lay audience.
References
Adorno, T., Frenkel-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. J., & Sanford, N. R. (2019). The Authoritarian Personality. Verso. https://www.versobooks.com/books/3016-the-authoritarian-personality
Ægisdóttir, S., White, M. J., Spengler, P. M., Maugherman, A. S., Anderson, L. A., Cook, R. S., Nichols, C. N., Lampropoulos, G. K., Walker, B. S., Cohen, G., & Rush, J. D. (2006). The Meta-Analysis of Clinical Judgment Project: Fifty-Six Years of Accumulated Research on Clinical Versus Statistical Prediction. The Counseling Psychologist, 34(3), 341–382. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000005285875
Allsopp, K., Read, J., Corcoran, R., & Kinderman, P. (2019). Heterogeneity in psychiatric diagnostic classification. Psychiatry Research, 279, 15–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.PSYCHRES.2019.07.005
Altemeyer, B. (1981). Right-Wing Authoritarianism. University of Manitoba Press.
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5-TR (Fifth Edition, TR). American Psychiatric Association.
American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. https://www.apa.org/ethics/code/
American Psychological Association. (2024). Historical chronology: Examining psychology’s contributions to the belief in racial hierarchy and perpetuation of inequality for people of color in U.S. https://www.apa.org/about/apa/addressing-racism/historical-chronology
American Psychological Association. (2025a). Junk science. APA Dictionary of Psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org/junk-science
American Psychological Association. (2025b). Popular psychology. APA Dictionary of Psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org/popular-psychology
APA Division 12 Society of Clinical Psychology. (2022, June 21). Treatment target: borderline personality disorder. https://div12.org/diagnosis/borderline-personality-disorder/
Araki, S., & Kariya, T. (2022). Credential Inflation and Decredentialization: Re-examining the Mechanism of the Devaluation of Degrees. European Sociological Review, 38(6), 904–919. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcac004
Arkes, H. R. (2013). The Consequences of the Hindsight Bias in Medical Decision Making. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22(5), 356–360. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721413489988
Auchincloss, E. L., & Samberg, E. (2012). Psychoanalytic Terms and Concepts. In E. L. Auchincloss & E. Samberg (Eds.), Psychoanalytic Terms and Concepts (4th ed.). Yale University Press/American Psychoanalytic Association. https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300163452-007
Bach, B., Kramer, U., Doering, S., di Giacomo, E., Hutsebaut, J., Kaera, A., De Panfilis, C., Schmahl, C., Swales, M., Taubner, S., & Renneberg, B. (2022). The ICD-11 classification of personality disorders: a European perspective on challenges and opportunities. Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation, 9(1), 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40479-022-00182-0
Bachaud, L., & Johns, S. E. (2023). The use and misuse of evolutionary psychology in online manosphere communities: The case of female mating strategies. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 5, e28. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2023.22
Baker, S. A. (2022). Alt. Health Influencers: how wellness culture and web culture have been weaponised to promote conspiracy theories and far-right extremism during the COVID-19 pandemic. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 25(1), 3–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494211062623
Bakker, G. M. (2019). A new conception and subsequent taxonomy of clinical psychological problems. BMC Psychology, 7(1), 46. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-019-0318-8
Banas, J. A., & Rains, S. A. (2010). A meta-analysis of research on inoculation theory. Communication Monographs, 77(3), 281–311. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751003758193
Baumeister, R. F., & Vohs, K. D. (2007). Effort Justification. In R. F. Baumeister & K. D. Vohs (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Social Psychology (pp. 277–278). SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412956253
Beeker, T., Mills, C., Bhugra, D., te Meerman, S., Thoma, S., Heinze, M., & von Peter, S. (2021). Psychiatrization of Society: A Conceptual Framework and Call for Transdisciplinary Research. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.645556
Bijttebier, P., Beck, I., Claes, L., & Vandereycken, W. (2009). Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory as a framework for research on personality–psychopathology associations. Clinical Psychology Review, 29(5), 421–430. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CPR.2009.04.002
Both, L. M., Bastos, A. G., & Freitas, L. H. M. (2019). Operationalized psychodynamic diagnosis: a systematic review of the literature. Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 41(2), 201–210. https://doi.org/10.1590/2237-6089-2018-0020
Bowes, S. M., Ammirati, R. J., Costello, T. H., Basterfield, C., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2020). Cognitive biases, heuristics, and logical fallacies in clinical practice: A brief field guide for practicing clinicians and supervisors. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 51(5), 435–445. https://doi.org/10.1037/pro0000309
Brammer, R. (2002). Effects of experience and training on diagnostic accuracy. Psychological Assessment, 14(1), 110–113. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.14.1.110
Bruchmüller, K., Margraf, J., Suppiger, A., & Schneider, S. (2011). Popular or Unpopular? Therapists’ Use of Structured Interviews and Their Estimation of Patient Acceptance. Behavior Therapy, 42(4), 634–643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2011.02.003
Burns, T. W., O’Connor, D. J., & Stocklmayer, S. M. (2003). Science Communication: A Contemporary Definition. Public Understanding of Science, 12(2), 183–202. https://doi.org/10.1177/09636625030122004
Campbell, S. G., Croskerry, P., & Petrie, D. A. (2017). Cognitive bias in health leaders. Healthcare Management Forum, 30(5), 257–261. https://doi.org/10.1177/0840470417716949
Čavojová, V., Šrol, J., & Ballová Mikušková, E. (2022). How scientific reasoning correlates with health-related beliefs and behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic? Journal of Health Psychology, 27(3), 534–547. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105320962266
Čavojová, V., Šrol, J., & Ballová Mikušková, E. (2024). Scientific reasoning is associated with rejection of unfounded health beliefs and adherence to evidence-based regulations during the Covid-19 pandemic. Current Psychology, 43(9), 8288–8302. https://doi.org/10.1007/S12144-023-04284-Y
Center for Countering Digital Hate. (2021). Pandemic Profiteers: The business of anti-vaxx. https://counterhate.com/research/pandemic-profiteers/
Chartonas, D., Kyratsous, M., Dracass, S., Lee, T., & Bhui, K. (2017). Personality disorder: Still the patients psychiatrists dislike? BJPsych Bulletin, 41(1), 12–17. https://doi.org/10.1192/pb.bp.115.052456
Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (1996). Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 8(4), 597–600. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579400007318
Clarkin, J. F., Levy, K. N., Lenzenweger, M. F., & Kernberg, O. F. (2007). Evaluating three treatments for borderline personality disorder: A multiwave study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 164(6), 922–928. https://doi.org/10.1176/AJP.2007.164.6.922
Cloninger, C. R. (1999). The temperament and character inventory-revised. Center for Psychobiology of Personality, Washington University.
Cloninger, C. R. (2000). A practical way to diagnosis personality disorder: A proposal. Journal of Personality Disorders, 14(2), 99–108. https://doi.org/10.1521/PEDI.2000.14.2.99
Cloninger, C. R., & Svrakic, D. M. (2017). Personality Disorders. In B. J. Sadock, V. A. Sadock, & P. Ruiz (Eds.), Kaplan & Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry: Vol. I/II (Tenth Edition). Wolters Kluwer.
Cloninger, C. R., Svrakic, N. M., & Svrakic, D. M. (1997). Role of personality self-organization in development of mental order and disorder. Development and Psychopathology, 9(4), 881–906. https://doi.org/10.1017/S095457949700148X
Cohen, P., & Cohen, J. (1984). The Clinician’s Illusion. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41(12), 1178–1182. https://doi.org/10.1001/ARCHPSYC.1984.01790230064010
Compton, J. A. (2013). Inoculation Theory. In J. P. Dillard & L. Shen (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Persuasion: Developments in Theory and Practice (2nd ed., pp. 220–236). SAGE Publications. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2013-39243-014
Compton, J. A., van der Linden, S., Cook, J., & Basol, M. (2021). Inoculation theory in the post-truth era: Extant findings and new frontiers for contested science, misinformation, and conspiracy theories. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 15(6). https://doi.org/10.1111/SPC3.12602
Constant, A., Clark, A., Kirchhoff, M., & Friston, K. J. (2022). Extended active inference: Constructing predictive cognition beyond skulls. Mind & Language, 37(3), 373–394. https://doi.org/10.1111/mila.12330
Corr, P. J. (2009). The Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of Personality. In P. J. Corr & G. Matthews (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology (pp. 347–376). Cambridge University Press.
Cosby, K. S., & Croskerry, P. (2004). Profiles in Patient Safety: Authority Gradients in Medical Error. Academic Emergency Medicine, 11(12), 1341–1345. https://doi.org/10.1197/j.aem.2004.07.005
Croskerry, P. (2003). The Importance of Cognitive Errors in Diagnosis and Strategies to Minimize Them. Academic Medicine, 78(8), 775–780. https://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/fulltext/2003/08000/the_importance_of_cognitive_errors_in_diagnosis.3.aspx
Croskerry, P., Singhal, G., & Mamede, S. (2013). Cognitive debiasing 1: origins of bias and theory of debiasing. BMJ Quality & Safety, 22, ii58–ii64. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2012-001712
Crumlish, N., & Kelly, B. D. (2009). How psychiatrists think. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 15(1), 72–79. https://doi.org/10.1192/apt.bp.107.005298
Damnjanović, K. (2024). Zbirka kognitivnih pristrasnosti i pogrešaka (K. Damnjanović, Ed.). Heliks.
De Fruyt, F., Van De Wiele, L., & Van Heeringen, C. (2000). Cloninger’s Psychobiological Model of Temperament and Character and the Five-Factor Model of Personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 29(3), 441–452. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(99)00204-4
DeFife, J. A., Peart, J., Bradley, B., Ressler, K., Drill, R., & Westen, D. (2013). Validity of Prototype Diagnosis for Mood and Anxiety Disorders. JAMA Psychiatry, 70(2), 140–148. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.270
Dharanikota, H., Howie, E., Hope, L., Wigmore, S. J., Skipworth, R. J. E., & Yule, S. (2024). Debiasing Judgements Using a Distributed Cognition Approach: A Scoping Review of Technological Strategies. Human Factors, 00187208241292897. https://doi.org/10.1177/00187208241292897
Donois, K. K., Goodings, L., Finlay, M., & Gibson, N. (2025). Contested science communication: Representations of scientists and their science in newspaper articles and the associated comment sections. Public Understanding of Science, 34(6), 810-828. https://doi.org/10.1177/09636625251325453
Duckitt, J. (2015). Authoritarian Personality. In J. D. Wright (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 255–261). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.24042-7
Ecker, U. K. H., Lewandowsky, S., Fenton, O., & Martin, K. (2014). Do people keep believing because they want to? Preexisting attitudes and the continued influence of misinformation. Memory and Cognition, 42(2), 292–304. https://doi.org/10.3758/S13421-013-0358-X
Ecker, U. K. H., Roozenbeek, J., van der Linden, S., Tay, L. Q., Cook, J., Oreskes, N., & Lewandowsky, S. (2024). Misinformation poses a bigger threat to democracy than you might think. Nature, 630(8015), 29–32. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01587-3
Ecker, U. K. H., Tay, L. Q., Roozenbeek, J., van der Linden, S., Cook, J., Oreskes, N., & Lewandowsky, S. (2024). Why misinformation must not be ignored. American Psychologist. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001448
Elley, B. (2021). “The rebirth of the West begins with you!”—Self-improvement as radicalisation on 4chan. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 8(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-00732-x
Esterberg, M. L., & Compton, M. T. (2009). The psychosis continuum and categorical versus dimensional diagnostic approaches. Current Psychiatry Reports, 11(3), 179–184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-009-0028-7
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1993-97948-000
Fiedler, K. (2021). A Non-Populist Perspective on Populism in Psychological Science. In J. P. Forgas, W. D. Crano, & K. Fiedler (Eds.), The Psychology of Populism (pp. 174–194). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003057680-12
Frances, A. (2013). The past, present and future of psychiatric diagnosis. World Psychiatry, 12(2), 111–112. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20027
Frances, A. (2017). Misdiagnosing Donald Trump. Journal of Mental Health, 26(5), 394. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2017.1371845
Frances, A., & Widiger, T. (2012). Psychiatric diagnosis: Lessons from the DSM-IV past and cautions for the DSM-5 future. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 8, 109–130. https://doi.org/10.1146/ANNUREV-CLINPSY-032511-143102
Friston, K. J. (2018). Am I Self-Conscious? (Or Does Self-Organization Entail Self-Consciousness?). Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 579. https://doi.org/10.3389/FPSYG.2018.00579
Galinsky, A. D., & Ku, G. (2004). The Effects of Perspective-Taking on Prejudice: The Moderating Role of Self-Evaluation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30(5), 594–604. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203262802
Garb, H. N. (1996). The representativeness and past-behavior heuristics in clinical judgment. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 27(3), 272–277. https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7028.27.3.272
Gauron, E. F., & Dickinson, J. K. (1969). The influence of seeing the patient first on diagnostic decision making in psychiatry. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 126(2), 199–205. https://doi.org/10.1176/AJP.126.2.199
Gawronski, B., Luke, D. M., & Creighton, L. A. (2024). Dual-Process Theories. In D. E. Carlston, K. Hugenberg, & K. L. Johnson (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Social Cognition (2nd ed., pp. 319–353). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780197763414.013.12
Gigerenzer, G., & Gaissmaier, W. (2011). Heuristic decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 62, 451–482. https://doi.org/10.1146/ANNUREV-PSYCH-120709-145346
Gilovich, T., & Savitsky, K. (2002). Like Goes with Like: The Role of Representativeness in Erroneous and Pseudo-Scientific Beliefs. In T. Gilovich, D. Griffin, & D. Kahneman (Eds.), Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment (pp. 617–624). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511808098.036
Gobet, F. (1997). A Pattern-recognition Theory of Search in Expert Problem Solving. Thinking & Reasoning, 3(4), 291–313. https://doi.org/10.1080/135467897394301
Goldberg, S. B., Rousmaniere, T., Miller, S. D., Whipple, J., Nielsen, S. L., Hoyt, W. T., & Wampold, B. E. (2016). Do psychotherapists improve with time and experience? A longitudinal analysis of outcomes in a clinical setting. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 63(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1037/COU0000131
Goldberg, Z. J., & Richey, S. (2020). Anti-Vaccination Beliefs and Unrelated Conspiracy Theories: World Affairs, 183(2), 105–124. https://doi.org/10.1177/0043820020920554
Goodwin, F. K., & Jamison, K. R. (1990). Manic-depressive illness. Oxford University Press. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1990-98089-000
Gordon, A., Brooks, J. C. W., Quadflieg, S., Ecker, U. K. H., & Lewandowsky, S. (2017). Exploring the neural substrates of misinformation processing. Neuropsychologia, 106, 216–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA.2017.10.003
Gould, M., Jamieson, P., & Romer, D. (2016). Media Contagion and Suicide Among the Young: American Behavioral Scientist, 46(9), 1269–1284. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764202250670
Groopman, J. (2007). How doctors think. Houghton Mifflin Company.
Grove, W. M. (2005). Clinical versus statistical prediction: The contribution of Paul E. Meehl. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61(10), 1233–1243. https://doi.org/10.1002/JCLP.20179
Grove, W. M., Menton, W. H., & Huber, J. C. (2015). Clinical versus Statistical Prediction. In R. L. Cautin & S. O. Lilienfeld (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118625392.wbecp200
Gulliver, A., Griffiths, K. M., & Christensen, H. (2010). Perceived barriers and facilitators to mental health help-seeking in young people: A systematic review. BMC Psychiatry, 10(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-10-113
Hardy, B. W., Tallapragada, M., Besley, J. C., & Yuan, S. (2019). The Effects of the “War on Science” Frame on Scientists’ Credibility. Science Communication, 41(1), 90–112. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547018822081
Harper, S. (2016). Media, Madness and Misrepresentation: Critical Reflections on Anti-Stigma Discourse. European Journal of Communication, 20(4), 460–483. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323105058252
Haselton, M. G., Nettle, D., & Andrews, P. W. (2015). The Evolution of Cognitive Bias. In D. M. Buss (Ed.), The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470939376.ch25
Haupt, M. R., Li, J., & Mackey, T. K. (2021). Identifying and characterizing scientific authority-related misinformation discourse about hydroxychloroquine on twitter using unsupervised machine learning. Big Data & Society, 8(1), 20539517211013844. https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517211013843
Hogg, M. A. (2012). Uncertainty-Identity Theory. In P. A. M. Van Lange, A. W. Kruglanski, & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 1–537). SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446249222
Hughes, M. G., Griffith, J. A., Zeni, T. A., Arsenault, M. L., Cooper, O. D., Johnson, G., Hardy, J. H., Connelly, S., & Mumford, M. D. (2014). Discrediting in a Message Board Forum: The Effects of Social Support and Attacks on Expertise and Trustworthiness. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(3), 325–341. https://doi.org/10.1111/JCC4.12077
Huttegger, S. M. (2017). The Probabilistic Foundations of Rational Learning. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316335789
Iliopoulos, J. (2022). Foucault understood critical psychiatry. BJPsych Advances, 28(4), 252–261. https://doi.org/10.1192/bja.2021.22
Iyengar, S., & Massey, D. S. (2019). Scientific communication in a post-truth society. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(16), 7656–7661. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805868115
Jenkins, M. M., & Youngstrom, E. A. (2016). A randomized controlled trial of cognitive debiasing improves assessment and treatment selection for pediatric bipolar disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 84(4), 323–333. https://doi.org/10.1037/CCP0000070
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263–291. https://doi.org/10.2307/1914185
Kanne, S. (2018). Diagnostic Overshadowing. In F. R. Volkmar (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders (pp. 1–3). Springer New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_398-5
Kilpatrick, D. G., Resnick, H. S., Milanak, M. E., Miller, M. W., Keyes, K. M., & Friedman, M. J. (2013). National Estimates of Exposure to Traumatic Events and PTSD Prevalence Using DSM-IV and DSM-5 Criteria. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 26(5), 537–547. https://doi.org/10.1002/JTS.21848
Kiss, Á., & Simonovits, G. (2014). Identifying the bandwagon effect in two-round elections. Public Choice, 160(3), 327–344. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-013-0146-y
Kotov, R., Krueger, R. F., Watson, D., Cicero, D. C., Conway, C. C., Deyoung, C. G., Eaton, N. R., Forbes, M. K., Hallquist, M. N., Latzman, R. D., Mullins-Sweatt, S. N., Ruggero, C. J., Simms, L. J., Waldman, I. D., Waszczuk, M. A., & Wright, A. G. C. (2021). The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP): A Quantitative Nosology Based on Consensus of Evidence. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 17, 83–108. https://doi.org/10.1146/ANNUREV-CLINPSY-081219-093304
Lasswell, H. D. (1930). Psychopathology and Politics. University of Chicago Press. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo27832683.html
Lewandowsky, S., Ecker, U. K. H., Cook, J., van der Linden, S., Roozenbeek, J., Oreskes, N., & McIntyre, L. C. (2024). Liars know they are lying: differentiating disinformation from disagreement. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), 986. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03503-6
Lewis, G., & Appleby, L. (1988). Personality Disorder: the Patients Psychiatrists Dislike. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153(1), 44–49. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.153.1.44
Lilienfeld, S. O., Ammirati, R., & Landfield, K. (2009). Giving Debiasing Away: Can Psychological Research on Correcting Cognitive Errors Promote Human Welfare? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(4), 390–398. https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1745-6924.2009.01144.X
Lilienfeld, S. O., & Lynn, S. J. (2014). Errors/Biases in Clinical Decision Making. In R. L. Cautin & S. O. Lilienfeld (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118625392.wbecp567
Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B. L. (2010). 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior. Wiley Blackwell.
Lilienfeld, S. O., & Treadway, M. T. (2016). Clashing Diagnostic Approaches: DSM-ICD Versus RDoC. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 12, 435–463. https://doi.org/10.1146/ANNUREV-CLINPSY-021815-093122
Lingiardi, V., & McWilliams, N. (2015). The psychodynamic diagnostic manual – 2nd edition (PDM-2). World Psychiatry, 14(2), 237–239. https://doi.org/10.1002/WPS.20233
Lingiardi, V., & McWilliams, N. (Eds.). (2017). Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual: PDM-2. The Guilford Press.
Littrell, S., Risko, E. F., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2021). ‘You can’t bullshit a bullshitter’ (or can you?): Bullshitting frequency predicts receptivity to various types of misleading information. British Journal of Social Psychology, 60(4), 1484–1505. https://doi.org/10.1111/BJSO.12447
Lucasius, C., Ali, M., Patel, T., Kundur, D., Szatmari, P., Strauss, J., & Battaglia, M. (2025). A procedural overview of why, when and how to use machine learning for psychiatry. Nature Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-024-00367-2
Ly, D. P., Shekelle, P. G., & Song, Z. (2023). Evidence for Anchoring Bias During Physician Decision-Making. JAMA Internal Medicine, 183(8), 818–823. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.2366
MacLean, N., Neal, T. M. S., Morgan, R. D., & Murrie, D. C. (2019). Forensic Clinicians’ Understanding of Bias. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 25(4), 323–330. https://doi.org/10.1037/LAW0000212
Maertens, R., Anseel, F., & van der Linden, S. (2020). Combatting climate change misinformation: Evidence for longevity of inoculation and consensus messaging effects. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 70, 101455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101455
Magnavita, J. J. (2016). Clinical Decision Making in Mental Health Practice (J. J. Magnavita, Ed.). American Psychological Association.
Mahoney, M. J., & DeMonbreun, B. G. (1977). Psychology of the scientist: An analysis of problem-solving bias. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 1(3), 229–238. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01186796
McCook, A. (2017, February 20). “I placed too much faith in underpowered studies:” Nobel Prize winner admits mistakes. Retraction Watch. https://retractionwatch.com/2017/02/20/placed-much-faith-underpowered-studies-nobel-prize-winner-admits-mistakes/
Meehan, A. J., Lewis, S. J., Fazel, S., Fusar-Poli, P., Steyerberg, E. W., Stahl, D., & Danese, A. (2022). Clinical prediction models in psychiatry: a systematic review of two decades of progress and challenges. Molecular Psychiatry, 27(6), 2700–2708. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01528-4
Meehl, P. E. (1954). Clinical versus statistical prediction: A theoretical analysis and a review of the evidence. University of Minnesota Press. https://doi.org/10.1037/11281-000
Meehl, P. E. (1973). Why I do not attend case conferences. In P. E. Meehl (Ed.), Psychodiagnosis: Selected papers (pp. 225–302). University of Minnesota Press.
Mendel, R., Traut-Mattausch, E., Jonas, E., Leucht, S., Kane, J. M., Maino, K., Kissling, W., & Hamann, J. (2011). Confirmation bias: why psychiatrists stick to wrong preliminary diagnoses. Psychological Medicine, 41(12), 2651–2659. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291711000808
Middleton, H., & Moncrieff, J. (2019). Critical psychiatry: a brief overview. BJPsych Advances, 25(1), 47–54. https://doi.org/10.1192/bja.2018.38
Miller, D. J., Spengler, E. S., & Spengler, P. M. (2015). A meta-analysis of confidence and judgment accuracy in clinical decision making. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 62(4), 553–567. https://doi.org/10.1037/COU0000105
Nakagawa, S., & Freckleton, R. P. (2008). Missing inaction: the dangers of ignoring missing data. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 23(11), 592–596. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.TREE.2008.06.014
National Academies of Sciences and Medicine, E. (2017). Communicating Science Effectively: A Research Agenda. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/23674
Nisbett, R. E., & Ross, L. (1980). Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment. Prentice-Hall.
Nisbett, R. E., Zukier, H., & Lemley, R. E. (1981). The dilution effect: Nondiagnostic information weakens the implications of diagnostic information. Cognitive Psychology, 13(2), 248–277. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(81)90010-4
O’Keefe, D. J. (2012). The Elaboration Likelihood Model. In J. P. Dillard & L. Shen (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Persuasion: Developments in Theory and Practice (2nd ed., pp. 137–149). SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452218410
OPD Task Force. (2008). Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis OPD-2. Hogrefe.
Paris, J. (2020). Controversies in the Classification and Diagnosis of Personality Disorders. In C. W. Lejuez & K. L. Gratz (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Disorders (pp. 103–110). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108333931.020
Parr, T., Pezzulo, G., & Friston, K. J. (2022). Active Inference: The Free Energy Principle in Mind, Brain, and Behavior. The MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/12441.001.0001
Paulus, D., de Vries, G., Janssen, M., & Van de Walle, B. (2022). The influence of cognitive bias on crisis decision-making: Experimental evidence on the comparison of bias effects between crisis decision-maker groups. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 82, 103379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103379
Peele, S. (2011, December 5). The Seductive, But Dangerous, Allure of Gabor Maté. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/addiction-in-society/201112/the-seductive-dangerous-allure-gabor-mat
Pennycook, G., Allan Cheyne, J., Barr, N., Koehler, D. J., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2015). On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit. Judgment and Decision Making, 10(6), 549–563. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1930297500006999
Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2020). Who falls for fake news? The roles of bullshit receptivity, overclaiming, familiarity, and analytic thinking. Journal of Personality, 88(2), 185–200. https://doi.org/10.1111/JOPY.12476
Peters, U., Sherling, H. R., & Chin-Yee, B. (2024). Hasty generalizations and generics in medical research: A systematic review. PLOS ONE, 19(7), e0306749. https://doi.org/10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0306749
Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). Communication and Persuasion. In Communication and Persuasion. Springer New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4964-1
Petty, R. E., Cacioppo, J. T., Strathman, A. J., & Priester, J. R. (2005). To Think or Not to Think: Exploring Two Routes to Persuasion. In T. C. Brock & M. C. Green (Eds.), Persuasion: Psychological Insights and Perspectives (2nd ed., pp. 81–116). SAGE Publications.
Pohl, R. F. (2022). Cognitive Illusions: Intriguing Phenomena in Thinking, Judgment, and Memory. In R. F. Pohl (Ed.), Cognitive Illusions: Intriguing Phenomena in Thinking, Judgment, and Memory: Third edition (3rd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003154730
Pronin, E., Lin, D. Y., & Ross, L. (2002). The bias blind spot: Perceptions of bias in self versus others. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(3), 369–381. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167202286008
Richards, M. S., & Wierzbicki, M. (1990). Anchoring errors in clinical-like judgments. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 46(3), 358–365. https://doi.org/10.1002/1097-4679(199005)46:3<358::AID-JCLP2270460317>3.0.CO;2-7
Roozenbeek, J., & van der Linden, S. (2019). Fake news game confers psychological resistance against online misinformation. Palgrave Communications, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1057/S41599-019-0279-9
Saleh, N. F., Roozenbeek, J. O. N., Makki, F. A., Mcclanahan, W. P., & Van Der Linden, S. (2024). Active inoculation boosts attitudinal resistance against extremist persuasion techniques: a novel approach towards the prevention of violent extremism. Behavioural Public Policy, 8(3), 548–571. https://doi.org/10.1017/BPP.2020.60
Samadi, A. H., Alipourian, M., Afroozeh, S., Raanaei, A., & Panahi, M. (2024). An Introduction to Institutional Inertia: Concepts, Types and Causes. In N. Faghih & A. H. Samadi (Eds.), Institutional Inertia: Theory and Evidence (pp. 47–86). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-51175-2_3
Sanna, L. J., Schwarz, N., & Stocker, S. L. (2002). When Debiasing Backfires: Accessible Content and Accessibility Experiences in Debiasing Hindsight. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition, 28(3), 497–502. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.28.3.497
Sansone, R. A., & Sansone, L. A. (2013). Responses of Mental Health Clinicians to Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder. Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience, 10(5–6), 43. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3719460/
Saposnik, G., Redelmeier, D., Ruff, C. C., & Tobler, P. N. (2016). Cognitive biases associated with medical decisions: a systematic review. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 16(1), 138. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-016-0377-1
Schimmack, U. (2020, December 30). A Meta-Scientific Perspective on “Thinking: Fast and Slow". Replicability-Index. https://replicationindex.com/2020/12/30/a-meta-scientific-perspective-on-thinking-fast-and-slow/
Sekar, H., Dharmasena, D., Gunasekara, A., Nauta, M., Sivashanmugarajan, V., & Yoong, W. (2022). Understanding authority gradient: tips for speaking up for patient safety (and how to enhance the listening response). The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, 24(4), 272–280. https://doi.org/10.1111/tog.12829
Simonsen, E. (2010). The integration of categorical and dimensional approaches to psychopathology. In T. Millon, R. F. Krueger, & E. Simonsen (Eds.), Contemporary directions in psychopathology: Scientific foundations of the DSM-V and ICD-11. (pp. 350–361). The Guilford Press.
Spengler, P. M., Miller, D. J., & Spengler, E. S. (2016). Psychological masquerade embedded in a cluster of related clinical errors: Real practice, real solutions, and their scientific underpinnings. Psychotherapy, 53(3), 336–341. https://doi.org/10.1037/PST0000076
Spengler, P. M., White, M. J., Ægisdóttir, S., Maugherman, A. S., Anderson, L. A., Cook, R. S., Nichols, C. N., Lampropoulos, G. K., Walker, B. S., Cohen, G. R., & Rush, J. D. (2009). The meta-analysis of clinical judgment project: Effects of experience on judgment accuracy. The Counseling Psychologist, 37(3), 350–399. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000006295149
Stanovich, K. E. (2009). The Psychology of Rational Thought. Yale University Press.
Sulzer, S. H. (2015). Does “difficult patient” status contribute to de facto demedicalization? The case of borderline personality disorder. Social Science & Medicine, 142, 82–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.08.008
Swami, V., Chamorro-Premuzic, T., & Furnham, A. (2010). Unanswered questions: A preliminary investigation of personality and individual difference predictors of 9/11 conspiracist beliefs. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 24(6), 749–761. https://doi.org/10.1002/ACP.1583
Taylor, D. G. (1982). Pluralistic Ignorance and the Spiral of Silence: A Formal Analysis. Public Opinion Quarterly, 46(3), 311–335. https://doi.org/10.1086/268729
Thirsk, L. M., Panchuk, J. T., Stahlke, S., & Hagtvedt, R. (2022). Cognitive and implicit biases in nurses’ judgment and decision-making: A scoping review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 133, 104284. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.IJNURSTU.2022.104284
Turner, M. E., & Pratkanis, A. R. (1998). Twenty-Five Years of Groupthink Theory and Research: Lessons from the Evaluation of a Theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 73(2), 105–115. https://doi.org/10.1006/obhd.1998.2756
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. Science, 185(4157), 1124–1131. https://doi.org/10.1126/SCIENCE.185.4157.1124
van der Linden, S., Leiserowitz, A., Rosenthal, S., & Maibach, E. (2017). Inoculating the Public against Misinformation about Climate Change. Global Challenges, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.1002/GCH2.201600008
Walter, N., & Tukachinsky, R. (2020). A Meta-Analytic Examination of the Continued Influence of Misinformation in the Face of Correction: How Powerful Is It, Why Does It Happen, and How to Stop It? Communication Research, 47(2), 155–177. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650219854600
Ward, C., & Voas, D. (2011). The Emergence of Conspirituality. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 26(1), 103–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2011.539846
Waszczuk, M. A., Zimmerman, M., Ruggero, C., Li, K., MacNamara, A., Weinberg, A., Hajcak, G., Watson, D., & Kotov, R. (2017). What do clinicians treat: Diagnoses or symptoms? The incremental validity of a symptom-based, dimensional characterization of emotional disorders in predicting medication prescription patterns. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 79, 80–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.COMPPSYCH.2017.04.004
Wertz, M., Schobel, S., Schiltz, K., & Rettenberger, M. (2023). A comparison of the predictive accuracy of structured and unstructured risk assessment methods for the prediction of recidivism in individuals convicted of sexual and violent offense. Psychological Assessment, 35(2), 152–164. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0001192
World Health Organization. (2024, January). ICD-11 for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics. https://icd.who.int/browse/2024-01/mms/en
Zachar, P., Regier, D. A., & Kendler, K. S. (2019). The Aspirations for a Paradigm Shift in DSM-5: An Oral History. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 207(9). https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000001063
Zajonc, R. B. (1968). Attitudinal Effects of Mere Exposure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9(2), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1037/H0025848
Zajonc, R. B. (2001). Mere Exposure: A Gateway to the Subliminal. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10(6), 224–228. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00154
Zapf, P. A., Kukucka, J., Kassin, S. M., & Dror, I. E. (2018). Cognitive bias in forensic mental health assessment: Evaluator beliefs about its nature and scope. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 24(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1037/LAW0000153
Zhang, N. (2021). Inoculating the Public Against Misinformation: Testing the Effectiveness of “Pre-Bunking” Techniques in the Context of Mental Illness and Violence [Doctoral dissertation, University of South Carolina]. Scholar Commons. https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/6432/
Authors retain the copyright of the published papers and grant to the publisher the nonexclusive right to publish the article, to be cited as its original publisher in case of re-use, and to distribute it in all forms and media. The published articles will be distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-SA). It is allowed to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and remix, transform and build upon it for any purpose, even commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given to the original
author(s), a link to the license is provided, it is indicated if changes were made and the new work is distributed under the same license as the original. Authors are permitted to deposit the author’s publisher’s version (PDF) of their work in an institutional repository, subject-based repository, author’s personal website (including social networking sites, such as ResearchGate, Academia.edu, etc.), and/or departmental website at any time after publication, with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.