[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-85034-en":3,"doc-seo-85034-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},85034,1374391975076,"Riley","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/14000253ca4ec9f6853?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1783305029341752051",8,"Research & Report","The Behavioural Reflection Test","How readily people override intuitive conclusions through reflection shapes how they navigate dense information environments with reliable and misleading sources; yet the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) is weakened by familiarity with classic items. The Behavioural Reflection Test (BRT) introduces a brief open-ended measure for morally and epistemically charged decisions, paired with a low-exposure four-item bespoke CRT (bCRT) anchor. Across 473 online adults, higher bCRT predicted evidence-sensitive, ethically driven choices and reliance on high-quality sources, with emotionally engaged, risk-attentive and economical language. The bCRT demonstrated convergent validity, and BRT retained time-efficiency (median 11.8 minutes).","arXiv :2607 .0796 1v 1 [ cs .HC] 8 Jul 2026  \nThe Behavioural Reflection Test: A time-efficient measure of reflective reasoning in morally and epistemically charged decisions  \nSion Weatherhead 1*, Flora Salim 1 , Aaron Belbasis2 ,  \nBen R. Newell 1*  \n1 University of New South Wales, Sydney.  \n2 Aurecon Group, Melbourne.  \n*Corresponding author(s). E-mail(s): [s.weatherhead@unsw.edu.au](s.weatherhead@unsw.edu.au) ; [ben.newell@unsw.edu.au](ben.newell@unsw.edu.au) ;  \n[Contributing authors: flora.salim@unsw.edu.au](Contributing authors: flora.salim@unsw.edu.au);  \n[aaron.belbasis@aurecongroup.com.au](aaron.belbasis@aurecongroup.com.au) ;  \nAbstract  \nHow readily people override intuitive conclusions through reflection shapes how they navigate dense information environments with reliable and misleading sources; yet the effectiveness of a prominent measure, the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT), is eroded by widespread exposure to classic items and leaves open how such tendencies manifest more generally in decision style and linguistic expression. The Behavioural Reflection Test (BRT) addresses these issues with a brief open-ended measure of reasoning in morally and epistemically charged scenarios, alongside a four-item bespoke CRT (bCRT) as a low-exposure anchor. Among 473 online adults, higher bCRT predicted more evidence-sensitive, ethically driven decisions and reliance on high-quality sources, marked by more emotionally engaged, risk-attentive, economical language; associations the familiarity-adjusted CRT did not recover. The bCRT showed convergent validity, added item information above mean ability. Though open-ended, the BRT remained a time-efficient (median 11.8 minutes) behavioural assay of reflection with scope to extend across domains.  \nKeywords: cognitive reflection, reflective thinking, behavioural measure, language and decision–making, Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT), Need for Cognition (NFC), moral judgement, epistemic evaluation  \n1  \nReasoning research often distinguishes between relatively intuitive and more reflective forms of thought, frequently discussed under dual-process theories such as Kahneman’s‘System 1’ and ‘System 2’ [1] . However, contemporary critiques argue that treating these as mechanistically discrete systems with fixed attribute clusters [2] – for example, intuitive thought as necessarily fast, emotional, and automatic, and reflective thought as necessarily slow, unemotional, and deliberative – is not empirically well justified [3, 4] . A more defensible use of this distinction is therefore descriptive rather than strongly architectural: intuitive and reflective thought can be treated as modes of processing tendencies without assuming rigidly separable systems [4] .  \nThis distinction remains consequential in the contemporary information environment. Social media platforms, algorithmic feeds, and now ubiquitous large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT present people with a dense mixture of highquality evidence, misinformation, and disinformation [5, 6] . Understanding when people engage in more reflective, evidence-sensitive reasoning, and how this varies across individuals, is therefore important for explaining how people navigate morally and epistemically loaded decisions in everyday life.  \nCognitive Reflection Test: significance and criticisms  \nThe Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) [7] operationalises individual differences in this reflective style. The original three-item CRT consists of ‘trick’ questions that elicit an immediately compelling but incorrect ‘intuitive’ response and a correct answer that typically requires inhibiting that response and reasoning further. Despite its brevity, the CRT has shown striking predictive power: higher scores are associated with greater tolerance for beneficial risk[7, 8], more willingness to delay gratification [7], avoidance of biases [9], actively open minded thinking applied across task domains [9], and tendency toward utilitarian moral judgeme","cbCaiaG09CdzvnrX","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiaG09CdzvnrX","pdf",3356797,1,37,"English","en",105,"# Abstract\n# Reasoning research context\n# Cognitive Reflection Test: significance and criticisms\n# Behavioural measures and linguistic implications","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the Behavioural Reflection Test (BRT) address compared with the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT)?\",\"answer\":\"The BRT targets how reflection operates in morally and epistemically charged decisions and addresses CRT limitations caused by widespread exposure to its classic items.\"},{\"question\":\"How was BRT evaluated in the study?\",\"answer\":\"The study analyzed responses from 473 online adults, comparing a bespoke low-exposure CRT (bCRT) with an open-ended BRT and examining relationships with decision quality and language use.\"},{\"question\":\"What did higher bCRT scores predict about decisions and language?\",\"answer\":\"Higher bCRT predicted more evidence-sensitive, ethically driven decisions, greater reliance on high-quality sources, and language that was more emotionally engaged, risk-attentive, and economical.\"}]",1784200529,93,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"the-behavioural-reflection-test","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,53,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-behavioural-reflection-test/85034/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-16",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"What problem does the Behavioural Reflection Test (BRT) address compared with the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT)?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"The BRT targets how reflection operates in morally and epistemically charged decisions and addresses CRT limitations caused by widespread exposure to its classic items.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"How was BRT evaluated in the study?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"The study analyzed responses from 473 online adults, comparing a bespoke low-exposure CRT (bCRT) with an open-ended BRT and examining relationships with decision quality and language use.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"What did higher bCRT scores predict about decisions and language?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"Higher bCRT predicted more evidence-sensitive, ethically driven decisions, greater reliance on high-quality sources, and language that was more emotionally engaged, risk-attentive, and 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