Testing the Abstractedness Account of Base-Rate Neglect, and the Representativeness Heuristic, Using Psychological Distance

Testing the Abstractedness Account of Base-Rate Neglect, and the Representativeness Heuristic, Using Psychological Distance

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Branch, Jared
Language:English
Published: Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK 2017
Subjects:
Psychology
Construal level theory
judgment and decision-making
base-rate neglect
representativeness heuristic
Online Access:http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1490023670757555
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spelling ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-bgsu14900236707575552021-08-03T07:00:57Z Testing the Abstractedness Account of Base-Rate Neglect, and the Representativeness Heuristic, Using Psychological Distance Branch, Jared Psychology Construal level theory judgment and decision-making base-rate neglect representativeness heuristic Decision-makers neglect prior probabilities, or base-rates, when faced with problems of Bayesian inference (e.g. Bar-Hillel, 1980; Kahneman & Tversky, 1972, 1973; Nisbett and Borgida 1975). Judgments are instead made via the representativeness heuristic, in which a probability judgment is made by how representative its most salient features are (Kahneman & Tversky, 1972). Research has shown that base-rate neglect can be lessened by making individual subsets amenable to overall superset extraction (e.g. Gigerenzer & Hoffrage, 1995; Evans et al. 2000; Evans et al. 2002; Tversky & Kahneman, 1983). In addition to nested sets, psychological distance should change the weight afforded to base-rate information. Construal Level Theory (Trope & Liberman, 2010) proposes that psychological distances—a removal from the subjective and egocentric self—result in differential information use. When we are proximal to an event we focus on its concrete aspects, and distance from an event increases our focus on its abstract aspects. Indeed, previous research has shown that being psychologically distant from an event increases the use of abstract and aggregate information (Burgoon, Henderson, & Wakslak, 2013; Ledgerwood, Wakslak, & Wang, 2010), although these results have been contradicted (Braga, Ferreira, & Sherman, 2015). Over two experiments I test the idea that psychological distance increases base-rate use. In Experiment 1 I attempt to partially replicate previous research that indicates temporal psychological distance increases the use of the representativeness heuristic (Braga et al., 2015); that is, actually increases base-rate neglect. In Experiment 2 I tested this effect in problems of Bayesian inference, using the standard mammography (Eddy, 1982) and lawyers and engineers (Kahneman & Tversky, 1973) problems. My results provide preliminary, converging evidence that both social and temporal psychological distances increase the use of base-rate information. 2017-08-04 English text Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1490023670757555 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1490023670757555 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
topic Psychology
Construal level theory
judgment and decision-making
base-rate neglect
representativeness heuristic
spellingShingle Psychology
Construal level theory
judgment and decision-making
base-rate neglect
representativeness heuristic
Branch, Jared
Testing the Abstractedness Account of Base-Rate Neglect, and the Representativeness Heuristic, Using Psychological Distance
author Branch, Jared
author_facet Branch, Jared
author_sort Branch, Jared
title Testing the Abstractedness Account of Base-Rate Neglect, and the Representativeness Heuristic, Using Psychological Distance
title_short Testing the Abstractedness Account of Base-Rate Neglect, and the Representativeness Heuristic, Using Psychological Distance
title_full Testing the Abstractedness Account of Base-Rate Neglect, and the Representativeness Heuristic, Using Psychological Distance
title_fullStr Testing the Abstractedness Account of Base-Rate Neglect, and the Representativeness Heuristic, Using Psychological Distance
title_full_unstemmed Testing the Abstractedness Account of Base-Rate Neglect, and the Representativeness Heuristic, Using Psychological Distance
title_sort testing the abstractedness account of base-rate neglect, and the representativeness heuristic, using psychological distance
publisher Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK
publishDate 2017
url http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1490023670757555
work_keys_str_mv AT branchjared testingtheabstractednessaccountofbaserateneglectandtherepresentativenessheuristicusingpsychologicaldistance
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