Evidence for rule-based processes in the inverse base-rate effect. |
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Authors: | Anders Winman Pia Wennerholm Peter Juslin David R Shanks |
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Affiliation: | Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Anders.Winman@psyk.uu.se |
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Abstract: | Three studies provide convergent evidence that the inverse base-rate effect (Medin & Edelson, 1988) is mediated by rule-based cognitive processes. Experiment 1 shows that, in contrast to adults, prior to the formal operational stage most children do not exhibit the inverse base-rate effect. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrate that an adult sample is a mix of participants relying on associative processes who categorize according to the base-rate and participants relying on rule-based processes who exhibit a strong inverse base-rate effect. The distribution of the effect is bimodal, and removing participants independently classified as prone to rule-based processing effectively eliminates the inverse base-rate effect. The implications for current explanations of the inverse base-rate effect are discussed. |
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