Contextual Influences on Judgment Based on Limited Information

When judging objects described by incomplete evidence, people often make judgments on the basis of what is known and fail to adjust for what is unknown. However, contextual factors may increase sensitivity to the limited weight of the given information. Consistent with this hypothesis, four experiments show that sensitivity to the limitations of the evidence and the likelihood of judgmental moderation increases when (a) a target is judged in the context of a similar object described on dimensions different from those used to describe the target, or (b) a target is judged in the context of a completely different type of object described by a relatively large amount of information. Considered together, the results suggest that judgment is moderated when contextual objects or cues alert judges to specific omissions or when contextual cues imply a general lack of information. The findings illuminate the diverse effects that even context objects of a different category have on information integration judgment. Context objects may affect the weighting as well as the valuation of the evidence about targets described by limited information and thereby contribute to judgmental moderation. Finally, the findings illustrate the contextually sensitive nature of the weighting criteria that guide information integration.