Patterns of Preference for Numerical and Verbal Probabilities

We report results of an experiment designed to test a principle formulated by Budescu and Wallsten (1995), that, when communicating uncertainty information, mode choices are sensitive to sources and degrees of vagueness. In addition, we examined subjects’ efficacy in using such uncertainty information as a function of communication mode, source, and vagueness. In phase one of the experiment, subjects in a dyad used precise (numerical) or imprecise (verbal) expressions to communicate to a remote partner precise or vague uncertainty about the likelihoods of events. Spinner outcomes were used to generate precise uncertainty while answers to almanac questions were used to elicit vague uncertainty. In phase two, subjects saw the events paired with their partners’ estimates of similar events, and were asked to gamble on one event from each pair. Communication mode preferences were measured as the relative frequency that subjects chose the numerical mode to either express or receive uncertainty information regarding the events. Efficacy was measured as the relative frequency that subjects choose from the pair the event associated with the objectively more probable uncertainty expression. Underlying uncertainty interacted with direction of communication to affect preferences for modes of expression of the probabilities. Subjects preferred precise (numerical) information, especially for precise events (spinners). For vague events (questions), their preference for precise (numerical) information was stronger when receiving than when communicating information. Similar preferences were reflected in the efficiency of subsequent gamble decisions based on the probability estimates. Specifically, decisions were more efficacious (i.e. consistent with Expected Utility) when degrees of precision in events and estimates matched. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Not afraid to trust you: Trustworthiness moderates gaze cueing but not in highly anxious participants

Gaze cueing (i.e., the shifting of person B's attention by following person A's gaze) is closely linked with human interaction and learning. To make the most of this connection, researchers need to investigate possible moderators enhancing or reducing the extent of this attentional shifting. In this study we used a gaze cueing paradigm to demonstrate that the perceived trustworthiness of a cueing person constitutes such a moderator for female participants. Our results show a significant interaction between perceived trustworthiness and the response time trade-off between valid and invalid gaze cues [gaze cueing effect (GCE)], as manifested in greater following of a person's gaze if this person was trustworthy as opposed to the following of an untrustworthy person's gaze. An additional exploratory analysis showed potentially moderating influences of trait-anxiety on this interaction (p = .057). The affective background of the experiment (i.e., using positive or negative target stimuli) had no influence.     

The Effects of Self‐Diagnostic Information on Risk Perception of Internet Addiction Disorder: Self‐Positivity Bias and Online Social Support1

This article demonstrates how self‐diagnostic information (presence of symptoms on an inventory) influences the risk perception of Internet addiction disorder (IAD). The authors also highlight 2 tendencies—self‐positivity bias and online social support—that are characteristics of risk perception of IAD. In 3 studies, it was found that if no contextual information was provided, respondents estimated their risk of IAD as higher than when contextual information (symptoms) was provided. They were also less prone to self‐positivity (i.e., the disposition for people to estimate their risk as lower than others). Finally, our research provides evidence that online social support moderates these effects.     

Influences of appearance-behaviour congruity on memory and social judgements

Prior work shows that appearance-behaviour congruity impacts memory and evaluations. Building upon prior work, we assessed influences of appearance-behaviour congruity on source memory and judgement strength to illustrate ways congruity effects permeate social cognition. We paired faces varying on trustworthiness with valenced behaviours to create congruent and incongruent face-behaviour pairs. Young and older adults remembered congruent pairs better than incongruent, but both were remembered better than pairs with faces rated average in appearance. This suggests that multiple, even conflicting, valenced cues improve memory over receiving fewer cues. Consistent with our manipulation of facial trustworthiness, congruity effects were present in the strength of trustworthiness-related but not dominance judgements. Subtle age differences emerged in congruity effects when learning about others, with older adults showing effects for approach judgements given both high and low arousal behaviours. Young adults had congruity effects for approach, prosociality and trustworthiness judgements, given high arousal behaviours only. These findings deepen our understanding of how appearance-behaviour congruity impacts memory for and evaluations of others.     

Implicit Consistency Processes in Social Cognition: Explicit‐Implicit Discrepancies Across Systems of Evaluation

What happens when our automatic evaluations conflict with our attitudes that we can reflect on and articulate? In this paper, we review some processes by which explicit implicit evaluative discrepancies (EIEDs) arise and can impact our thoughts, feelings, and behavior, using a dual‐systems perspective on attitudes to explain the psychological processes underlying these evaluative inconsistencies. EIEDs emerge when differential positive and negative evaluations toward attitude objects reside in systems of knowledge governed by language and reasoning (i.e., explicit evaluations) and systems of knowledge that are association‐based (i.e., implicit evaluations). We discuss factors that produce EIEDs, including the influence of extrapersonal associations on attitudes, temporal, and qualitative differences in encountering attitude‐relevant information, and the differential influence of processing goals. Finally, we discuss consequences of holding EIEDs, including their impact on behaviors toward attitude objects, enhanced elaboration and scrutiny of social information, motivated reasoning, errant affective forecasting, and self‐regulatory success and failure.     

A meta‐analysis of the effects of speakers' accents on interpersonal evaluations

This paper reports a meta‐analysis of the empirical literature on the effects of speakers' accents on interpersonal evaluations. Our review of the published literature uncovered 20 studies that have compared the effects of standard accents (i.e., the accepted accent of the majority population) versus non‐standard accents (i.e., accents that are considered foreign or spoken by minorities) on evaluations about the speakers. These 20 studies yielded 116 independent effect sizes on an array of characteristics that were selected by the original researchers. We classified each of the characteristics as belonging to one of three domains that have been traditionally discussed in this area, namely status (e.g., intelligence, social class), solidarity (trustworthiness, in‐group–out‐group member), and dynamism (level of activity and liveliness). The effect was particularly strong when American Network accented speakers were compared with non–standard‐accented speakers. These results underscore prior research showing that speakers' accents have powerful effects on how others perceive them. These and other results are discussed in the context of the literature along with implications for future research in this area. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparisons of target output monitoring and source input monitoring

Five experiments were conducted to compare source memory to target memory. For the current purposes, source memory was defined as information that was learned from two sources (i.e. information input) whereas target memory was defined as information that was delivered to two sources (i.e. information output). The paradigm that we developed involved receiving concrete objects from two people in the source‐monitoring conditions or giving away these same objects to two people in the target‐monitoring conditions. This procedure allowed a direct comparison of source monitoring to target monitoring holding all other experimental variables constant. Target‐monitoring performance exceeded source monitoring except when the decision component of target monitoring was eliminated and incorporated into source monitoring. Commonalities and differences between source and target monitoring are discussed as are the real‐world implications of target memory for social behavior and facilitating communication. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The synergistic effect of prosociality and physical attractiveness on mate desirability

Mate selection requires a prioritization and joint evaluation of different traits present or absent in potential mates. Herein, we focus on two such traits – physical attractiveness and prosociality – and examine how they jointly shape impressions of overall desirability. We report on two related experiments which make use of an innovative methodology combining large samples of raters and target persons (i.e., stimuli) and information on targets’ behaviour in economic games representing altruistic behaviour (Experiment 1) and trustworthiness (Experiment 2), two important facets of prosociality. In accordance with predictions derived from a cognitive perspective on mate choice and sexual strategies theory, the results show that the impact of being prosocial on an individual's overall desirability was increased further by them also being physically attractive, but only in long-term mating contexts. Furthermore, we show that men's mate preferences for certain prosocial traits (i.e., trustworthiness) were more context-dependent than women's due to differential evolutionary pressures for ancestral men and women.     

Using Ordinal Data to Estimate Cardinal Values

We investigate methods developed in multiple criteria decision‐making that use ordinal information to estimate numerical values. Such methods can be used to estimate attribute weights, attribute values, or event probabilities given ranks or partial ranks. We first review related studies and then develop a generalized rank‐sum (GRS) approach in which we provide a derivation of the rank‐sum approach that had been previously proposed. The GRS approach allows for incorporating the concept of degree of importance (or, difference in likelihood with respect to probabilities and difference in value for attribute values), information that most other rank‐based formulas do not utilize. We then present simulation results comparing the GRS method with other rank‐based formulas such as the rank order centroid method and comparing the GRS methods using as many as three levels of importance (i.e., GRS‐3) with Simos' procedure (which can also incorporate degree of importance). To our surprise, our results show that the incorporation of additional information (i.e., the degree of the importance), both GRS‐3 and Simos' procedure, did not result in better performance than rank order centroid or GRS. Further research is needed to investigate the modelling of such extra information. We also explore the scenario when a decision‐maker has indifference judgments and cannot provide a complete rank order. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Digit identity influences numerical estimation in children and adults

Learning the meanings of Arabic numerals involves mapping the number symbols to mental representations of their corresponding, approximate numerical quantities. It is often assumed that performance on numerical tasks, such as number line estimation (NLE), is primarily driven by translating from a presented numeral to a mental representation of its overall magnitude. Part of this assumption is that the overall numerical magnitude of the presented numeral, not the specific digits that comprise it, is what matters for task performance. Here we ask whether the magnitudes of the presented target numerals drive symbolic number line performance, or whether specific digits influence estimates. If the former is true, estimates of numerals with very similar magnitudes but different hundreds digits (such as 399 and 402) should be placed in similar locations. However, if the latter is true, these placements will differ significantly. In two studies (N = 262), children aged 7–11 and adults completed 0–1000 NLE tasks with target values drawn from a set of paired numerals that fell on either side of “Hundreds” boundaries (e.g., 698 and 701) and “Fifties” boundaries (e.g., 749 and 752). Study 1 used an atypical speeded NLE task, while Study 2 used a standard non‐speeded NLE task. Under both speeded and non‐speeded conditions, specific hundreds digits in the target numerals exerted a strong influence on estimates, with large effect sizes at all ages, showing that the magnitudes of target numerals are not the primary influence shaping children's or adults’ placements. We discuss patterns of developmental change and individual difference revealed by planned and exploratory analyses.     

Tracing Attitude Expressions: An Eye‐Tracking Study

Attitudes represent object evaluations, comprising complex underlying cognitive and affective knowledge structures. When people are asked to judge an object, they can use their primary response (i.e., the immediate object‐evaluation linkage) or underlying affective and cognitive knowledge structures. In many situations, a primary response satisfices, but if not, more elaboration is required. Both processes are fundamentally different but may lead to the same attitude. For monitoring underlying processes during attitude expression, we developed an innovative eye‐tracking procedure using eye‐gaze on response scale options. This procedure was applied in three studies to identify the extent to which elaboration differs for attitude objects with weak or strong, univalent or mixed object evaluations (i.e., univalent, neutral and ambivalent). In Study 1, the overall judgment preceded processing of more specific affective and cognitive linkage evaluations. In Studies 2 and 3, the order was reversed, and affective and cognitive bases were assessed prior to overall attitude outcomes. For attitude objects with strong univalent or strong mixed object evaluations, we found similar outcomes on underlying processes. For weak object evaluations, cognition was found to be more predictive and easily accessible if an overall judgment was required first; affect for these objects was more predictive if people had to elaborate on affect and cognition first. We concluded that both affective and cognitive attitudes may require substantial elaboration, albeit in different situations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Explaining the impact of policy information on policy-making

This article has called past studies into question as they relate to describing and explaining the impact of information on policy-making. More specifically, it attempts to empirically investigate the causality of the factors involved in the impact of information on governmental decision-making. Based on an integrated conceptual framework for when and how information helps to make policy decisions, a path model (or a covariance structure model without latent variables) is built and tested against the data in two areas of mental health policy (i.e., service provision and financing). Findings of the study demonstrate that how and when information influences governmental decision-making is directly and indirectly affected by a variety of factors and their linkages, not dominated by one set of factors (e.g., trustworthiness of information source or format of reports) defined by a single perspective (e.g., the organizational interest or the communications perspective). The most important paths in the model are those between factors related to information (e.g., the amount of information received or its use) and the impact of information on policy-making. Interestingly, these factors also play a major role in linking other variables (e.g., demographics or decision makers’ distrust of information) to the impact of information on policy-making. Furthermore, the general pattern of the findings indicates that policy areas make a difference in accounting for the impact of information on policy-making. Overall, the single most important lesson is that past perspectives are not alternative or competing tools for understanding the phenomena, and, thus, the theoretical and/or empirical task of explaining when and why information affects policy-making is equivalent to explaining why a certain set of factors is not appropriate or appropriate for a particular context and to identifying such a context.     

Low-level orientation information for social evaluation in face images

Observers make a range of social evaluations based on facial appearance, including judgments of trustworthiness, warmth, competence, and other aspects of personality. What visual information do people use to make these judgments? While links have been made between perceived social characteristics and other high-level properties of facial appearance (e.g., attractiveness, masculinity), there has been comparatively little effort to link social evaluations to low-level visual features, like spatial frequency and orientation sub-bands, known to be critically important for face processing. We explored the extent to which different social evaluations depended critically on horizontal orientation energy vs. vertical orientation energy, as is the case for face identification and emotion recognition. We found that while trustworthiness judgments exhibited this bias for horizontal orientations, competence and dominance did not, suggesting that social evaluations may depend on a multi-channel representation of facial appearance at early stages of visual processing.     

Normal face-based judgements of social characteristics despite severely impaired holistic face processing

Initial evidence indicates that face-based judgements of socially relevant characteristics such as people's trustworthiness or attractiveness are linked to the configural/holistic processing of facial cues. What remains a matter of debate, however, is whether such processing is actually necessary for normal social judgements to occur and whether it resembles the type of integrative processing as required for facial identification. To address these issues, we asked a well-characterized case of acquired prosopagnosia (PS) with a marked deficit in holistic processing for face identity to rate a series of faces on several dimensions of social relevance. PS provided ratings within the normal range for most of the social characteristics probed (i.e., aggression, attractiveness, confidence, intelligence, sociability, trustworthiness). Her evaluations deviated from those of healthy controls only when facial dominance was concerned. Taken together, these data demonstrate that the inability to integrate facial information during face individuation does not necessarily translate into a generalized deficit to evaluate faces on social dimensions.     

The Dynamic Relationships of Work Affect and Job Satisfaction with Perceptions of Fit

This study assessed the longitudinal relationship between perceived fit (i.e., person–organization fit, person–job fit) and affect‐based variables (i.e., job satisfaction, negative affect, positive affect) using momentary (i.e., within‐person level) and stable (i.e., between‐person level) assessments of both sets of variables. In doing so, we tested 3 theoretical models of the perceived fit and work affect relationship (i.e., fit preceding affect; affect preceding fit; reciprocal fit–affect relations) to determine (a) the antecedents and consequences of fit perceptions, (b) whether fit perceptions exhibit meaningful within‐person variability, and (c) if direct fit perceptions are simply the result of affect/job satisfaction at work or can influence such work experiences. In addition, we examined whether the relationships between affect/job satisfaction and fit perceptions were homologous (i.e., similar) across the 2 levels of analysis (i.e., within‐person and between‐person). Results indicated that fit primarily preceded affect and job satisfaction at both levels of analysis, though some specific relationships exhibited reciprocal causality and others supported affect as an antecedent of fit perceptions. Our findings paint a complex picture of the causal relationship between perceived fit and work affect.     

Correcting erroneous inferences in memory: The role of source credibility

People often continue to rely on erroneous information about people and events, even in the face of subsequent counter information. The current study examined whether this information could be effectively corrected by a credible source. We examined two aspects of credibility: trustworthiness and expertise. Experiment 1 showed that receiving a correction from a source high in trustworthiness and expertise reduced participants’ use of original information when making inferences. Experiment 2 showed that source expertise alone was not sufficient to reduce participants’ reliance on the original information. The results from Experiment 3 showed that source trustworthiness alone significantly decreased participants’ use of the original information when making inferences. The results suggest that people may be able to reduce their use of original information if they receive a correction from a person who is deemed to be highly trustworthy. These findings have implications for decision making in politics and other applied areas.     

Object‐Label‐Order Effect When Learning From an Inconsistent Source

Learning in natural environments is often characterized by a degree of inconsistency from an input. These inconsistencies occur, for example, when learning from more than one source, or when the presence of environmental noise distorts incoming information; as a result, the task faced by the learner becomes ambiguous. In this study, we investigate how learners handle such situations. We focus on the setting where a learner receives and processes a sequence of utterances to master associations between objects and their labels, where the source is inconsistent by design: It uses both “correct” and “incorrect” object‐label pairings. We hypothesize that depending on the order of presentation, the result of the learning may be different. To this end, we consider two types of symbolic learning procedures: the Object‐Label (OL) and the Label‐Object (LO) process. In the OL process, the learner is first exposed to the object, and then the label. In the LO process, this order is reversed. We perform experiments with human subjects, and also construct a computational model that is based on a nonlinear stochastic reinforcement learning algorithm. It is observed experimentally that OL learners are generally better at processing inconsistent input compared to LO learners. We show that the patterns observed in the learning experiments can be reproduced in the simulations if the model includes (a) an ability to regularize the input (and also to do the opposite, i.e., undermatch) and (b) an ability to take account of implicit negative evidence (i.e., interactions among different objects/labels). The model suggests that while both types of learners utilize implicit negative evidence in a similar way, there is a difference in regularization patterns: OL learners regularize the input, whereas LO learners undermatch. As a result, OL learners are able to form a more consistent system of image‐utterance associations, despite the ambiguous learning task.     

Different perceptions of self‐handicapping across college and work contexts

We investigated the effectiveness of self‐handicapping as an impression management strategy in college and work contexts. In contrast to past research in which college students are both targets and perceivers, we tested whether target status and perceiver status moderate perceptions of self‐handicappers. To this end, we manipulated whether the target was a college student or an adult worker, and we recruited as perceivers both college students (Study 1) and adult workers (Study 2). We additionally manipulated the target's behavior (self‐handicapping vs. control) and outcome (success vs. failure). The results revealed that self‐handicapping protected a student target (but not a worker) from negative evaluations (e.g., ability attributions) in the eyes of college students, particularly males. However, adult workers consistently judged self‐handicapping negatively.     

Evaluating advisors: A policy‐capturing study under conditions of complete and missing information

Decision‐makers' relative preferences for various advisor characteristics were investigated in two multilevel policy‐capturing studies. The characteristics under consideration were: advisor expertise, advisor confidence, advisor intentions, and whether that advisor was the sole available source of advice. In Study 1, decision‐makers had access to all relevant information about the advisors. In contrast, some relevant information about the advisors was systematically made unavailable in Study 2, which allowed an investigation of the effect of missing information on decision‐makers' evaluations of advisors. Results from both studies indicated that advisor expertise and intentions were most important in promoting decision‐makers' positive evaluations of advisors, that this effect was even more pronounced under conditions of missing information, and that advisor expertise and intentions also interacted synergistically. Given that expertise and good intentions are determinants of an advisor's trustworthiness, the results highlight the interpersonal nature of advice giving and taking. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental Tests of Risk Ladders in the Elicitation of Perceived Likelihood

Risk ladders have the potential to improve numeric judgments of low‐likelihood events by providing information about the likelihoods of comparison risks, thereby letting respondents make risk estimates “in context.” However, to date this tool has been studied systematically only in communication of risk, not in elicitation of perceived likelihoods. In three studies, we evaluated the benefits of risk ladders on the consistency, validity, and mean‐level accuracy of elicited likelihood judgments. When estimates for low‐likelihood hazards were elicited using different numeric response scales (e.g., “1 in x” and “x in 100,000”), scale type had a strong effect on the magnitudes of the elicited estimates, and viewing a risk ladder (Experiment 1) or comparison risks (Experiments 2 and 3) did not attenuate this effect of scale type. Similarly, we found no evidence that risk ladders or comparison risks improved the convergent validity of numeric estimates, as measured using correlations with risk ratings made on alternative scale types. Finally, viewing comparison risks tended to reduce gross overestimation of rare events, with relatively less change in estimates for mid‐likelihood and high‐likelihood hazards. This suggests that comparison risks can spread responses to cover a wider range of values but do not ameliorate scale effects. In the elicitation of numeric risk estimates, how you ask matters, even if you let people make estimates “in context” through the use of comparative risk information. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.