Evaluative
response and certainty of its accuracy as a function of proportion
of positive information
R. Singh |
In
two experiments, the law of attraction was tested in the realm of
informational stimuli. Proportion of positive adjectives was varied
in Experiments I and II using a between- (N=54) and a within-subjects
(N=40) design, respectively. Subjects indicated their attraction
toward and favorability of impression of the described person, and
then expressed their certainty as to the accuracy of the impression.
They also judged the consistency in the description. Results showed
that the proportion parameter of the law can work reasonably well
in the case of adjectival information, and that subjects make independent
cognitive and evaluative responses to a stimulus. A supplementary
experiment (N=36) indicated no effect of the number (5, 10, and 15)
of items on any response measure.
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