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Owen HE, Halberstadt J, Carr EW, Winkielman P. Johnny Depp, Reconsidered: How Category-Relative Processing Fluency Determines the Appeal of Gender Ambiguity. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0146328. [PMID: 26845341 PMCID: PMC4742244 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0146328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2015] [Accepted: 12/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals that combine features of both genders-gender blends-are sometimes appealing and sometimes not. Heretofore, this difference was explained entirely in terms of sexual selection. In contrast, we propose that part of individuals' preference for gender blends is due to the cognitive effort required to classify them, and that such effort depends on the context in which a blend is judged. In two studies, participants judged the attractiveness of male-female morphs. Participants did so after classifying each face in terms of its gender, which was selectively more effortful for gender blends, or classifying faces on a gender-irrelevant dimension, which was equally effortful for gender blends. In both studies, gender blends were disliked when, and only when, the faces were first classified by gender, despite an overall preference for feminine features in all conditions. Critically, the preferences were mediated by the effort of stimulus classification. The results suggest that the variation in attractiveness of gender-ambiguous faces may derive from context-dependent requirements to determine gender membership. More generally, the results show that the difficulty of resolving social category membership-not just attitudes toward a social category-feed into perceivers' overall evaluations toward category members.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helen E. Owen
- Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Jamin Halberstadt
- Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
- * E-mail: ;
| | - Evan W. Carr
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States of America
| | - Piotr Winkielman
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States of America
- Behavioural Science Group, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom
- Department of Psychology, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland
- * E-mail: ;
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Fernandez Cruz AL, Arango-Muñoz S, Volz KG. Oops, scratch that! Monitoring one’s own errors during mental calculation. Cognition 2016; 146:110-20. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2015.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2014] [Revised: 07/23/2015] [Accepted: 09/06/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Claypool HM, Mackie DM, Garcia-Marques T. Fluency and Attitudes. SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS 2015. [DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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When Confidence Is Not a Signal of Knowing: How Students’ Experiences and Beliefs About Processing Fluency Can Lead to Miscalibrated Confidence. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s10648-015-9313-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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55
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergio Della Sala
- Human Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology, University of Edinburgh, UK.
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Lafrenière MAK, Sedikides C, Van Tongeren DR, Davis J. On the Perceived Intentionality of Self-Enhancement. The Journal of Social Psychology 2015; 156:28-42. [DOI: 10.1080/00224545.2015.1041447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Aßfalg A, Nadarevic L. A word of warning: Instructions and feedback cannot prevent the revelation effect. Conscious Cogn 2015; 34:75-86. [PMID: 25881234 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2015.03.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2014] [Revised: 03/09/2015] [Accepted: 03/29/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
In recognition tests, participants claim that stimuli appear more familiar after an intervening task (e.g., solving an anagram) than without an intervening task-the revelation effect. In Experiment 1, we warned half of the participants about the revelation effect and asked them to prevent any judgment bias. However, compared to a control group without warning instructions, the revelation effect remained unaltered. In Experiment 2, participants who received warning instructions additionally received accuracy feedback for their recognition judgments. We assumed that feedback would aid participants in detecting any judgment bias. Again, warning instructions and feedback failed to reduce the revelation effect. In Experiment 3, participants demonstrated that they understood the warning instructions and generally believed that they were successful in suppressing the revelation effect. Yet, again, a revelation effect occurred. The experiments suggest that the revelation effect is a robust judgment bias that lies outside of the participants' control.
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Affiliation(s)
- André Aßfalg
- Department of Psychology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
| | - Lena Nadarevic
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
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Khan KS, Chaudhry S. An evidence-based approach to an ancient pursuit: systematic review on converting online contact into a first date. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015; 20:48-56. [PMID: 25678447 DOI: 10.1136/ebmed-2014-110101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To determine, for people seeking a date online, what activities and behaviours have an effect on the chances of converting electronic communication into a face-to-face meeting. METHODS Literature in psychology, sociology, and computer, behavioural and neurocognitive sciences that informed effective online dating was captured through electronic searching of Psychinfo, Medline and Embase in November 2013. Study selection and meta-narrative synthesis were carried out in duplicate. RESULTS There were 3938 initial citations and 86 studies were synthesised. Initial interest was best captured through: a desirable screen name starting with a letter in the top half of the alphabet; an attractive still picture; and a fluent headline message. For those attracted to browse into the profile, a description of personal traits increased likeability when it: showed who the dater was and what they were looking for in a 70:30 ratio; stayed close to reality; and employed simple language with humour added. Invitations were most successful in obtaining a response from the potential date when they: were short personalised messages addressing a trait in their profile; rhymed with their screen name or headline message; and extended genuine compliments. Online communication was most effective in leading to an in-person meeting if there were: a genuine interest; a rapid turnaround; reciprocity in self-disclosure; mimicry of body movements on the webcam; avoidance of criticism; humour; uncertainty about whether there was likeability; and an early move from electronic chat to a date. CONCLUSIONS Attraction and persuasion research provides an evidence-based approach to online dating.
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Shockley E, Fairdosi AS. Power to the People? Psychological Mechanisms of Disengagement From Direct Democracy. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE 2015. [DOI: 10.1177/1948550614568159] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The goal of direct democracy is to bring power to change laws to ordinary citizens. However, it may alienate citizens because policy language is often complex, perhaps impacting citizens’ voting likelihood and support for policies. We invoke theory on processing fluency and compensatory control motivations to explain voting likelihood and policy attitude formation. Using experiments and mediational analyses, we tested theorized links between policy language complexity and these outcomes. Findings suggest that policy language complexity motivates compensatory trust in policy institutions but this does not likely explain decreased voting likelihood. We also found that low processing fluency associated with reading a complexly worded policy or a policy presented in a disfluent font led to lower voting likelihood and less positive policy attitudes, consistent with predictions. Thus, the form direct democracy often takes manipulates the amount of support garnered for policies and ironically encourages citizens to outsource legislation to institutional elites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ellie Shockley
- University of Nebraska Public Policy Center, Lincoln, NE, USA
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60
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Robinson MM, Morsella E. The subjective effort of everyday mental tasks: Attending, assessing, and choosing. MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 2014. [DOI: 10.1007/s11031-014-9441-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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61
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Jiang Y, Hong J. It feels fluent, but not right: The interactive effect of expected and experienced processing fluency on evaluative judgment. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2014.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Rehder B. Independence and dependence in human causal reasoning. Cogn Psychol 2014; 72:54-107. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2014.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2013] [Revised: 02/05/2014] [Accepted: 02/11/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Abstract
Based on the fluency theory, a recent study by Dohle and Siegrist revealed that complex pharmaceutical drug names are perceived as more hazardous than simple drug names and thus negatively influence patients' willingness to buy. This study explored the malleability of the name fluency effect on pharmaceutical drug perception by examining the fluency effect in the domain of risk versus advancedness judgment. The findings indicated that depending on how the fluency feeling is interpreted in the context of initial judgment task (e.g. advancedness vs risk), disfluent drug names can positively influence a patient's perception of the drug, reversing the typical fluency effect.
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Newman EJ, Sanson M, Miller EK, Quigley-McBride A, Foster JL, Bernstein DM, Garry M. People with easier to pronounce names promote truthiness of claims. PLoS One 2014; 9:e88671. [PMID: 24586368 PMCID: PMC3935838 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0088671] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2013] [Accepted: 01/08/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
When people make judgments about the truth of a claim, related but nonprobative information rapidly leads them to believe the claim–an effect called “truthiness” [1]. Would the pronounceability of others’ names also influence the truthiness of claims attributed to them? We replicated previous work by asking subjects to evaluate people’s names on a positive dimension, and extended that work by asking subjects to rate those names on negative dimensions. Then we addressed a novel theoretical issue by asking subjects to read that same list of names, and judge the truth of claims attributed to them. Across all experiments, easily pronounced names trumped difficult names. Moreover, the effect of pronounceability produced truthiness for claims attributed to those names. Our findings are a new instantiation of truthiness, and extend research on the truth effect as well as persuasion by showing that subjective, tangential properties such as ease of processing can matter when people evaluate information attributed to a source.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eryn J. Newman
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
- * E-mail:
| | - Mevagh Sanson
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Emily K. Miller
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | | | - Jeffrey L. Foster
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Daniel M. Bernstein
- Psychology Department, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Maryanne Garry
- School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
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65
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Pearson AR, Dovidio JF, Phills CE, Onyeador IN. Attitude–goal correspondence and interracial interaction: Implications for executive function and impression formation. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2013.03.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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66
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Filkuková P, Klempe SH. Rhyme as reason in commercial and social advertising. Scand J Psychol 2013; 54:423-31. [DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2012] [Accepted: 05/13/2013] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Petra Filkuková
- Faculty of Social Sciences; Department of Psychology; University of Oslo; Oslo; Norway
| | - Sven Hroar Klempe
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Technology Management; Department of Psychology; Norwegian University of Science and Technology; Trondheim; Norway
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67
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Holman A. Affect intensity and processing fluency of deterrents. Cogn Emot 2013; 27:1421-31. [PMID: 23614378 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2013.785386] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
The theory of emotional intensity (Brehm, 1999) suggests that the intensity of affective states depends on the magnitude of their current deterrents. Our study investigated the role that fluency--the subjective experience of ease of information processing--plays in the emotional intensity modulations as reactions to deterrents. Following an induction phase of good mood, we manipulated both the magnitude of deterrents (using sets of photographs with pre-tested potential to instigate an emotion incompatible with the pre-existent affective state--pity) and their processing fluency (normal vs. enhanced through subliminal priming). Current affective state and perception of deterrents were then measured. In the normal processing conditions, the results revealed the cubic effect predicted by the emotional intensity theory, with the initial affective state being replaced by the one appropriate to the deterrent only in participants exposed to the high magnitude deterrence. In the enhanced fluency conditions the emotional intensity pattern was drastically altered; also, the replacement of the initial affective state occurred at a lower level of deterrence magnitude (moderate instead of high), suggesting the strengthening of deterrence emotional impact by enhanced fluency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrei Holman
- a Psychology Department , "Alexandru I. Cuza" University , Iaşi , Romania
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68
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Farrell M. Scientific writing - following guidelines. J Small Anim Pract 2013; 54:171-3. [DOI: 10.1111/jsap.12050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mike Farrell
- Fitzpatrick Referrals; Halfway Lane, Eashing Godalming Surrey GU7 2QQ
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69
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Constable MD, Bayliss AP, Tipper SP, Kritikos A. Self-generated cognitive fluency as an alternative route to preference formation. Conscious Cogn 2013; 22:47-52. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2012.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2012] [Revised: 11/14/2012] [Accepted: 11/15/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Guenther RK. Does the processing fluency of a syllabus affect the forecasted grade and course difficulty? Psychol Rep 2012; 110:946-54. [PMID: 22897096 DOI: 10.2466/01.11.28.pr0.110.3.946-954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Processing fluency is known to affect a variety of cognitive assessments, but most research has not examined such effects in the context of a real-life experience. In the first experiment, college students, enrolled in either a statistics or cognitive psychology course, read a course syllabus which varied in the clarity of its font and frequency of its vocabulary. Based on the syllabus, students then forecasted their final course grade and the course's difficulty. Despite methodological similarity to other fluency experiments and adequate statistical power, there were no significant differences in forecasts across fluency conditions. Fluency may be discounted in a task which provides information that affects people's lives. This interpretation was bolstered by a second experiment whose participants were students in a statistics course. These students read the cognitive course's syllabus and forecasted better grades and less difficulty in the cognitive course when the font of the syllabus was more clear than unclear.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Kim Guenther
- Department of Psychology, Hamline University, St Paul, MN 55104, USA.
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71
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Greifeneder R, Zelt S, Seele T, Bottenberg K, Alt A. Towards a better understanding of the legibility bias in performance assessments: the case of gender-based inferences. BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 2012; 82:361-74. [PMID: 22881044 DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8279.2011.02029.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Handwriting legibility systematically biases evaluations in that highly legible handwriting results in more positive evaluations than less legible handwriting. Because performance assessments in educational contexts are not only based on computerized or multiple choice tests but often include the evaluation of handwritten work samples, understanding the causes of this bias is critical. AIMS This research was designed to replicate and extend the legibility bias in two tightly controlled experiments and to explore whether gender-based inferences contribute to its occurrence. SAMPLE(S) A total of 132 students from a German university participated in one pre-test and two independent experiments. METHOD Participants were asked to read and evaluate several handwritten essays varying in content quality. Each essay was presented to some participants in highly legible handwriting and to other participants in less legible handwriting. In addition, the assignment of legibility to participant group was reversed from essay to essay, resulting in a mixed-factor design. RESULTS The legibility bias was replicated in both experiments. Results suggest that gender-based inferences do not account for its occurrence. Rather it appears that fluency from legibility exerts a biasing impact on evaluations of content and author abilities. CONCLUSIONS The legibility bias was shown to be genuine and strong. By refuting a series of alternative explanations, this research contributes to a better understanding of what underlies the legibility bias. The present research may inform those who grade on what to focus and thus help to better allocate cognitive resources when trying to reduce this important source of error.
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Morsella E, Feinberg GH, Cigarchi S, Newton JW, Williams LE. Sources of avoidance motivation: Valence effects from physical effort and mental rotation. MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 2011; 35:296-305. [PMID: 21957322 PMCID: PMC3168740 DOI: 10.1007/s11031-010-9172-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
When reaching goals, organisms must simultaneously meet the overarching goal of conserving energy. According to the law of least effort, organisms will select the means associated with the least effort. The mechanisms underlying this bias remain unknown. One hypothesis is that organisms come to avoid situations associated with unnecessary effort by generating a negative valence toward the stimuli associated with such situations. Accordingly, merely using a dysfunctional, 'slow' computer mouse causes participants to dislike ambient neutral images (Study 1). In Study 2, nonsense shapes were liked less when associated with effortful processing (135° of mental rotation) versus easier processing (45° of rotation). Complementing 'fluency' effects found in perceptuo-semantic research, valence emerged from action-related processing in a principled fashion. The findings imply that negative valence associations may underlie avoidance motivations, and have practical implications for educational/workplace contexts in which effort and positive affect are conducive to success.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ezequiel Morsella
- Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University (SFSU), 1600 Holloway Avenue, EP 301, San Francisco, CA 94132-4168 USA
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA USA
| | - Giles H. Feinberg
- Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University (SFSU), 1600 Holloway Avenue, EP 301, San Francisco, CA 94132-4168 USA
| | - Sepeedeh Cigarchi
- Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University (SFSU), 1600 Holloway Avenue, EP 301, San Francisco, CA 94132-4168 USA
| | - James W. Newton
- Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University (SFSU), 1600 Holloway Avenue, EP 301, San Francisco, CA 94132-4168 USA
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73
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Liu S, Zhang X, Ren Y, Yu Q. Processing fluency of the forms and sounds of Chinese characters. Conscious Cogn 2011; 20:191-203. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2010.06.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2009] [Revised: 03/16/2010] [Accepted: 06/15/2010] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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74
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Galak J, Nelson LD. The virtues of opaque prose: How lay beliefs about fluency influence perceptions of quality. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2011. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2010.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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75
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Sansom-Daly UM, Forgas JP. Do Blurred Faces Magnify Priming Effects? The Interactive Effects of Perceptual Fluency and Priming on Impression Formation. SOCIAL COGNITION 2010. [DOI: 10.1521/soco.2010.28.5.630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
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76
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Eibach RP, Mock SE, Courtney EA. Having a “senior moment”: Induced aging phenomenology, subjective age, and susceptibility to ageist stereotypes. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2010. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2010.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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77
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Labroo AA, Lambotte S, Zhang Y. The “Name-Ease” Effect and Its Dual Impact on Importance Judgments. Psychol Sci 2009; 20:1516-22. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02477.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
We demonstrate that merely naming a research finding elicits feelings of ease (a “name-ease” effect). These feelings of ease can reduce or enhance the finding's perceived importance depending on whether people are making inferences about how understandable or how memorable the finding is. When people assess their understanding of a finding, feelings of ease reduce the finding's perceived importance. This is because people usually invest effort to understand important information but also mistakenly infer the reverse—namely, that information that requires effort to be understood is important. In contrast, when people assess the memorability of a finding, feelings of ease increase the finding's perceived importance. Because people usually recall important information easily, in this case they equate ease with importance. Psychological effects, economic principles, math theorems, jury cases, and decisions to fund medical research can all show these effects.
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78
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Alter AL, Oppenheimer DM. Suppressing secrecy through metacognitive ease: cognitive fluency encourages self-disclosure. Psychol Sci 2009; 20:1414-20. [PMID: 19845889 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02461.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding when people reveal unfavorable information about themselves is both practically and theoretically important. Existing research suggests that people tend not to adopt stable disclosure strategies, and consequently disclose too much information in some situations (e.g., embarrassing personal information on Facebook) and too little in other situations (e.g., risky sexual behavior to a physician during diagnosis of a possible sexually transmitted disease). We sought to identify a domain-general cue that predicts self-disclosure patterns. We found that metacognitive ease, or fluency, promoted greater disclosure, both in tightly controlled lab studies (Studies 1a, 1b, and 3) and in an ecologically valid on-line field study (Study 4). Disfluency tended to prime thoughts and emotions associated with risk, which might be one reason why people who experience disfluency are less comfortable with self-disclosure (Studies 2 and 3). We conclude by discussing the implications of these results for theory and clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam L Alter
- Marketing Department, Stern School of Business, New York University, New York, NY 10012, USA.
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Abstract
Oppenheimer's (2004) demonstration that causal discounting (when the presence of one cause casts doubt on the presence of another) can happen spontaneously addressed the standing concern that discounting was an artifact of experimental demands, but these results could have resulted from memory inhibition. The present studies rule out this alternative using the same surname frequency estimation paradigm. In Study 1, individuals discounted surname familiarity even when it could be attributed to semantic meaning; in Study 2, participants under cognitive load discounted less; in Study 3, participants who were promised a prize for accuracy discounted more. All three results conform to a spontaneous causal discounting account better than to the inhibition alternative.
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80
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Alter AL, Oppenheimer DM. Uniting the Tribes of Fluency to Form a Metacognitive Nation. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW 2009; 13:219-35. [PMID: 19638628 DOI: 10.1177/1088868309341564] [Citation(s) in RCA: 464] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Processing fluency, or the subjective experience of ease with which people process information, reliably influences people’s judgments across a broad range of social dimensions. Experimenters have manipulated processing fluency using a vast array of techniques, which, despite their diversity, produce remarkably similar judgmental consequences. For example, people similarly judge stimuli that are semantically primed (conceptual fluency), visually clear (perceptual fluency), and phonologically simple (linguistic fluency) as more true than their less fluent counterparts. The authors offer the first comprehensive review of such mechanisms and their implications for judgment and decision making. Because every cognition falls along a continuum from effortless to demanding and generates a corresponding fluency experience, the authors argue that fluency is a ubiquitous metacognitive cue in reasoning and social judgment.
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81
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Oppenheimer DM. The secret life of fluency. Trends Cogn Sci 2008; 12:237-41. [PMID: 18468944 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2008.02.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 241] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2008] [Revised: 02/27/2008] [Accepted: 02/29/2008] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Fluency - the subjective experience of ease or difficulty associated with completing a mental task - has been shown to be an influential cue in a wide array of judgments. Recently researchers have begun to look at how fluency impacts judgment through more subtle and indirect routes. Fluency impacts whether information is represented in working memory and what aspects of that information are attended to. Additionally, fluency has an impact in strategy selection; depending on how fluent information is, people engage in qualitatively different cognitive operations. This suggests that the role of fluency is more nuanced than previously believed and that understanding fluency could be of critical importance to understanding cognition more generally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel M Oppenheimer
- Princeton University, Department of Psychology, Green Hall, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA.
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Alter AL, Oppenheimer DM. Effects of fluency on psychological distance and mental construal (or why New York is a large city, but New York is a civilized jungle). Psychol Sci 2008; 19:161-7. [PMID: 18271864 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02062.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 146] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
People construe the world along a continuum from concretely (focusing on specific, local details) to abstractly (focusing on global essences). We show that people are more likely to interpret the world abstractly when they experience cognitive disfluency, or difficulty processing stimuli in the environment, than when they experience cognitive fluency. We observed this effect using three instantiations of fluency: visual perceptual fluency (Study 1b), conceptual priming fluency (Study 2b), and linguistic fluency (Study 3). Adopting the framework of construal theory, we suggest that one mechanism for this effect is perceivers' tendency to interpret disfluently processed stimuli as farther from their current position than fluently processed stimuli (Studies 1a and 2a).
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam L Alter
- Psychology Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
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Oppenheimer DM, Frank MC. A rose in any other font would not smell as sweet: Effects of perceptual fluency on categorization. Cognition 2008; 106:1178-94. [PMID: 17618616 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2007.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2005] [Revised: 05/19/2007] [Accepted: 05/25/2007] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Fluency--the ease with which people process information--is a central piece of information we take into account when we make judgments about the world. Prior research has shown that fluency affects judgments in a wide variety of domains, including frequency, familiarity, and confidence. In this paper, we present evidence that fluency also plays a role in categorization judgments. In Experiment 1, participants judged a variety of different exemplars to be worse category members if they were less fluent (because they were presented in a smaller typeface). In Experiment 2, we found that fluency also affected judgments of feature typicality. In Experiment 3, we demonstrated that the effects of fluency can be reversed when a salient attribution for reduced fluency is available (i.e., the stimuli are hard to read because they were printed by a printer with low toner). In Experiment 4 we replicated these effects using a within-subject design, which ruled out the possibility that the effects were a statistical artifact caused by aggregation of data. We propose a possible mechanism for these effects: if an exemplar and its category are closely related, activation of one will cause priming of the other, leading to increased fluency. Over time, feelings of fluency come to be used as a valid cue that can become confused with more traditional sources of information about category membership.
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Abstract
We tested a fluency-misattribution theory of visual hindsight bias, and examined how perceptual and conceptual fluency contribute to the bias. In Experiment 1a observers identified celebrity faces that began blurred and then clarified (Forward baseline), or indicated when faces that began clear and then blurred were no longer recognisable (Backward baseline). In surprise memory tests that followed, observers adjusted the degree of blur of each face to match what the faces looked like when identified in the corresponding baseline condition. Hindsight bias was observed in the Forward condition: During the memory test observers adjusted the faces to be more blurry than when originally identified during baseline. These same observers did not show hindsight bias in the Backward condition: Here, they adjusted faces to the exact blur level at which they identified the faces during baseline. Experiment 1b tested a combined condition in which faces were viewed in a Forward progression at baseline but in a Backward progression at test. Hindsight bias was observed in this condition but was significantly less than the bias observed in the Experiment 1a Forward condition. Experiments 1a and 1b provide support for the fluency-misattribution account of visual hindsight bias: When observers are made aware of why fluency has been enhanced (i.e., in the Backward condition) they are better able to discount it, and as a result show reduced or no hindsight bias. In Experiment 2, observers viewed faces in a Forward progression at baseline and then in a Forward upright or inverted progression at test. Hindsight bias occurred in both conditions, but was greater for upright than inverted faces. We conclude that both conceptual and perceptual fluency contribute to visual hindsight bias.
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Jabri E. Congratulations, you're a winner too! ACS Chem Biol 2006; 1:603-5. [PMID: 17168563 DOI: 10.1021/cb6004273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Alter AL, Oppenheimer DM. Predicting short-term stock fluctuations by using processing fluency. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2006; 103:9369-72. [PMID: 16754871 PMCID: PMC1482615 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0601071103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 175] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Three studies investigated the impact of the psychological principle of fluency (that people tend to prefer easily processed information) on short-term share price movements. In both a laboratory study and two analyses of naturalistic real-world stock market data, fluently named stocks robustly outperformed stocks with disfluent names in the short term. For example, in one study, an initial investment of 1,000 US dollars yielded a profit of 112 US dollars more after 1 day of trading for a basket of fluently named shares than for a basket of disfluently named shares. These results imply that simple, cognitive approaches to modeling human behavior sometimes outperform more typical, complex alternatives.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam L Alter
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA.
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