The judgment of covariation between binary variables: Some conditions that influence the process

Two hundred subjects made decisions based on the data of two binary variables, ethnic origin and employment status. They were asked to specify the information necessary and sufficient for making the decision before doing so. Variables studied were: (1) Type of question. Five questions were used, four of which focused on one of the four instances involved (e.g., Which information is necessary to find out if there is a connection between Asian immigrants and unemployment?). Question five was unbiased. (2) Type of variable. Half of the subjects found two symmetric variables, and half found one symmetric and one asymmetric variable. (3) Level of correlation. Five different correlations were used, three favoring Asians, one favoring Europeans, and one representing a zero correlation. Subjects made logical decisions that were not influenced by any of the experimental conditions. The selection of information before and after making choices was influenced by all variables except level of correlation. The biased questions produced deviations from normative reasoning; the two symmetrical variables and the process of making decisions encouraged normative reasoning.     

The influence of hierarchy on probability judgment

Consider the task of predicting which soccer team will win the next World Cup. The bookmakers may judge Brazil to be the team most likely to win, but also judge it most likely that a European rather than a Latin American team will win. This is an example of a non-aligned hierarchy structure: the most probable event at the subordinate level (Brazil wins) appears to be inconsistent with the most probable event at the superordinate level (a European team wins). In this paper we exploit such structures to investigate how people make predictions based on uncertain hierarchical knowledge. We distinguish between aligned and non-aligned environments, and conjecture that people assume alignment. Participants were exposed to a non-aligned training set in which the most probable superordinate category predicted one outcome, whereas the most probable subordinate category predicted a different outcome. In the test phase participants allowed their initial probability judgments about category membership to shift their final ratings of the probability of the outcome, even though all judgments were made on the basis of the same statistical data. In effect people were primed to focus on the most likely path in an inference tree, and neglect alternative paths. These results highlight the importance of the level at which statistical data are represented, and suggest that when faced with hierarchical inference problems people adopt a simplifying heuristic that assumes alignment.     

The influence of melodic context on pitch recognition judgment

Subjects made delayed pitch comparisons between tones that were each preceded by tones of lower pitch. The pitches of these preceding tones were so chosen that in some conditions the melodic intervals formed by the standard (S) and comparison (C) combinations were identical, and in others they differed. A strong effect of melodic relational context was demonstrated. When the S and C combinations formed identical melodic intervals, there was an increased tendency for the S and C tones to be judged as identical. And when the S and C combinations formed different melodic intervals, there was an increased tendency for the S and C tones to be judged as different. These effects occurred both when the S and C tones were identical in pitch and also when these differed, and they occurred despite instructions to attend only to the S and C tones.     

The influence of category representations on exemplar generation

The present study examined the influence of category representations on exemplar generation, which has been neglected in previous category research. An experiment on college students manipulated the category representation of insects in three conditions (prototypes, exemplars, and the hybrid of prototypes and exemplars). Participants were asked to generate as many exemplars as possible. The results demonstrate that category representations affect and constrain exemplar generation. The new findings are as follows. In the prototype and hybrid conditions with the prototype representation, people tend to generate more valid exemplars by using the prototype mutation mechanism, and exemplar generation conforms to the family resemblance structure. Exemplar generation in the hybrid condition is additionally constrained by known exemplars. In the exemplar condition, people tend to generate fewer valid exemplars by using miscellaneous strategies, and their exemplar generation may not conform to the family resemblance structure.     

The influence of similarity on visual working memory representations

In verbal memory, similarity between items in memory often leads to interference and impaired memory performance. The present study sought to determine whether analogous interference effects would be observed in visual working memory by varying the similarity of the to-be-remembered objects in a colour change detection task. Instead of leading to interference and impaired performance, increased similarity among the items being held in memory led to improved performance. Moreover, when two similar colours were presented along with one dissimilar colour, memory performance was better for the similar colours than for the dissimilar colour. Similarity produced better performance even when the objects were presented sequentially and even when memory for the first item in the sequence was tested. These findings show that similarity does not lead to interference between representations in visual working memory. Instead, similarity may lead to improved task performance, possibly due to increased stability or precision of the memory representations during maintenance.     

Electrophysiological difference between the representations of causal judgment and associative judgment in semantic memory

Causally related concepts like “virus” and “epidemic” and general associatively related concepts like “ring” and “emerald” are represented and accessed separately. The Evoked Response Potential (ERP) procedure was used to examine the representations of causal judgment and associative judgment in semantic memory. Participants were required to remember a task cue (causal or associative) presented at the beginning of each trial, and assess whether the relationship between subsequently presented words matched the initial task cue. The ERP data showed that an N400 effect (250–450 ms) was more negative for unrelated words than for all related words. Furthermore, the N400 effect elicited by causal relations was more positive than for associative relations in causal cue condition, whereas no significant difference was found in the associative cue condition. The centrally distributed late ERP component (650–750 ms) elicited by the causal cue condition was more positive than for the associative cue condition. These results suggested that the processing of causal judgment and associative judgment in semantic memory recruited different degrees of attentional and executive resources.     

Patterns of moral judgment derive from nonmoral psychological representations

Ordinary people often make moral judgments that are consistent with philosophical principles and legal distinctions. For example, they judge killing as worse than letting die, and harm caused as a necessary means to a greater good as worse than harm caused as a side‐effect ( Cushman, Young, & Hauser, 2006 ). Are these patterns of judgment produced by mechanisms specific to the moral domain, or do they derive from other psychological domains? We show that the action/omission and means/side‐effect distinctions affect nonmoral representations and provide evidence that their role in moral judgment is mediated by these nonmoral psychological representations. Specifically, the action/omission distinction affects moral judgment primarily via causal attribution, while the means/side‐effect distinction affects moral judgment via intentional attribution. We suggest that many of the specific patterns evident in our moral judgments in fact derive from nonmoral psychological mechanisms, and especially from the processes of causal and intentional attribution.     

The revelation effect in frequency judgment

In three experiments, we explored the revelation effect in a frequency judgment task. Participants estimated the frequency of words that had been presented one, two, four, or eight times. At test, half the words were revealed by completing word fragments, and half were presented intact. Estimated frequencies were reliably higher for revealed than for intact words, and in two of the three experiments, the revelation effect became larger as actual frequency increased. A revelation effect was obtained whether the revealed word was the same as (Experiment 1) or different from (Experiment 2) the word judged for frequency. Frequency estimates were higher for more distorted test items (Experiment 3).     

The effect of external representations on numeric tasks

This article explores the effect of external representations on numeric tasks. Through several minor modifications on the previously reported two-digit number comparison task, we obtained different results. Rather than holistic comparison, we found parallel comparison. We argue that this difference was a reflection of different representational forms: The comparison was based on internal representations in previous studies but on external representations in our present study. This representational effect is discussed under a framework of distributed number representations. We propose that in numerical tasks involving external representations, numbers should be considered as distributed representations, and the behaviour in these tasks should be considered as the interactive processing of internal and external information through the interplay of perceptual and cognitive processes. We suggest that theories of number representations and process models of numerical cognition should consider external representations as an essential component.     

道德相对主义和厌恶情绪对道德直觉判断的影响

社会直觉模型认为有意识的道德推理过程发生在道德直觉判断之后。那么, 道德直觉判断又是怎么形成的, 是否受认知推理和情绪的影响?实验1首先验证道德直觉判断的存在; 实验2考察了道德相对主义对道德直觉判断的影响; 实验3考察了厌恶情绪对道德直觉判断的影响。结果发现: (1)道德绝对主义比道德相对主义条件下, 个体更倾向于做出道德直觉判断, 说明道德直觉判断受认知推理影响。(2)厌恶情绪比中立情绪启动条件下, 个体更倾向于做出道德直觉判断, 说明道德直觉判断受情绪影响。因此, 道德直觉判断会受认知推理和情绪的影响。     

The dud-alternative effect in likelihood judgment

The judged likelihood of a focal outcome should generally decrease as the list of alternative possibilities increases. For example, the likelihood that a runner will win a race goes down when 2 new entries are added to the field. However, 6 experiments demonstrate that the presence of implausible alternatives (duds) often increases the judged likelihood of a focal outcome. This dud-alternative effect was detected for judgments involving uncertainty about trivia facts and stochastic events. Nonnumeric likelihood measures and betting measures reliably detected the effect, but numeric likelihood measures did not. Time pressure increased the magnitude of the effect. The results were consistent with a contrast-effect account: The inclusion of duds increases the perceived strength of the evidence for the focal outcome, thereby affecting its judged likelihood.     

Social representations of drugs,causal judgment and social perception

The aim of this study was to analyse the influence of social representation on both social perceptions and social judgments. In the first stage of this study, 47 drug users and 80 ‘normal’ subjects were asked to respond to a questionnaire about representations of drugs. Three weeks later we contacted the same subjects. They were asked to answer some questions about a fictitious story in which an actor labelled as ‘a drug user’ or ‘a person’ disputed with a trader. Three different social representations of drugs were found. It was shown that these social representations were anchored in different social groups which were defined by their proximity to the world of drugs. Subjects who were themselves drug users shared an accepting or an ambivalent social representation of drugs but they also made the most negative judgements about the causes of a fictitious dispute between a trader and a drug addict. Moreover, these subjects had the most negative perception of the drug addict. Furthermore, some factors which increase the salience of social representations were studied. The effect on social perception and causal attributions of the interaction between social representations, the context and personal involvement in drugs was also shown. Some relations between the theory of social representations and the theories about asymmetrical intergroup relationships are exposed.     

The influence of category membership of stimuli on sequential effects in magnitude judgment

The present study addresses the problem of whether range effects and sequential dependencies are affected by stimulus category membership in the same way. Two sets of squares differing in color were presented to subjects. The subjects were asked to judge them according to size, under two instructions. The separation instruction required them to judge each square solely in relation to its own category. The integration instruction required them to ignore category membership. The results indicated that, under the separation instruction, the range effects, as well as the sequence effects, confined themselves to stimuli of the same category. Under the integration instruction, however, the squares were judged in relation to the range of all the stimuli, and sequential effects were independent of the stimulus category. This parallel trend in the category-specific effects of range and preceding stimuli was found for judgments, as well as for reaction times. The findings are discussed with regard to models of sequential effects.     

The influence of control and related variables on commuting stress

Existing research on commuting stress has shown that it is affected by variables such as control, predictability, the duration of the commute and impedance. The present study investigates the impact of several factors on the stress that commuters experience and clarifies possible relations between variables. For the purpose of this study, an online questionnaire was completed by 363 commuters of the Vienna region. The relative strength of the relationship between predictors and commuting stress was determined by multiple regression analysis. Results suggest that control is the most powerful predictor of commuting stress, followed by the duration of the commute, predictability and impedance. Control significantly interacts with the duration of the commute and predictability. Based on these findings a research model is proposed, clearly depicting the moderating impact of the duration of the commute and incorporating a clear distinction between predictability and control.     

The effect of divided attention on global judgment of learning accuracy

This study examined the effect of divided attention (DA) on global judgment of learning (JOL) accuracy in a multitrial list learning paradigm. A word monitoring task was used to divide attention. Participants were assigned to an attention condition (DA at encoding, DA at judgment, DA at retrieval, or focused attention) and completed 4 learning trials, each comprising a study, judgment, and recall phase. Participants showed greater overconfidence in the DA at encoding (Trial 2) and DA at retrieval (Trials 1 and 2) conditions than in the focused attention condition. DA atjudgment did not affect JOL accuracy, and there was no effect of DA in Trials 3 and 4 on JOL accuracy across all attention conditions. Results indicate that participants consider conditions of encoding and retrieval but do not engage in recall when forming global JOLs. These findings suggest that people rely on extrinsic cues when making repeated, global metamemoryjudgments.     

专业背景、主观印象和情绪对量刑决策的影响

为了考察司法决策者对案件当事人的主观印象如何影响刑罚决策及情绪在其中的作用,本研究要求法律与非法律专业被试对案情相同但对案件当事人的主观印象不同的刑事案件进行刑罚强度决策,并要求被试对犯罪行为所引发的情绪强度进行评定。研究结果发现,被试对施害人的消极印象比积极印象条件下产生更强的愤怒和厌恶情绪,更少的同情情绪,同时,给予的刑罚更重;被试对受害人的积极印象比消极印象条件下,低年级组被试对施害人给予的刑罚更重,但在高年级组被试中不存在显著差异,两组被试在情绪强度上也没有显著差异。法律专业比非法律专业被试对犯罪行为所产生的情绪强度更低。被试的专业背景对量刑决策没有显著影响。中介效应检验发现,在施害人的主观印象对刑罚决策的影响过程中,愤怒和同情表现出部分中介效应,厌恶情绪表现出完全中介效应。