Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied最新文献

People have many incorrect beliefs about evolutionary relationships among living things, in part due to the prominence people place on observable similarities as indicators of such. Consider: People think that porpoises and whales are more closely related to manatees than to bison based on their shared aquatic habitat. Our research asked whether it is possible to combat misconceptions using compelling visual representations. Previous research found that the Gestalt principles of perceptual grouping affect reasoning with evolutionary trees. We explored the potential of designing such trees as a "myth buster" tool to target biological misconceptions. More specifically, we tested the hypothesis that students would be less likely to make misconception-based inferences when the perceptual grouping of the tree branches strongly, as opposed to weakly, contradicts the misconception. The results of Experiment 1 showed that it is possible to manipulate perceptual grouping such that the tree structures are viewed as more versus less contradictory to a targeted misconception. Experiments 2 and 3 found that grouping manipulations reduced students' propensity to make inferences consistent with their misconceptions for six misconceptions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Although theories of emotion associate negative emotional symptoms with cognitive biases in information processing, they rarely specify the details. Here, we characterize cognitive biases in information processing of pleasant and unpleasant information, and how these biases covary with anxious and depressive symptoms, while controlling for general stress and cognitive ability. Forty undergraduates provided emotional symptom scores (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21) and performed a statistical learning task that required predicting the next sound in a long sequence of either pleasant or unpleasant naturalistic sounds (blocks). We used an information weights framework to determine if the degree of behavioral change associated with observing either confirmatory ("B" follows "A") or disconfirmatory ("B" does not follow "A") transitions differs for pleasant and unpleasant sounds. Bayesian mixed-effects models revealed that negative emotional symptom scores predicted performance as well as processing biases of pleasant and unpleasant information. Further, information weights differed between pleasant and unpleasant information, and importantly, this difference varied based on symptom scores. For example, higher depressive symptom scores predicted a bias of underutilizing disconfirmatory information in unpleasant content. These findings have implications for models of emotional disorders by offering a mechanistic explanation and formalization of the associated cognitive biases. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Consumers are often shown investment returns with high levels of precision, which could lead them to misunderstand the inherent uncertainty. We test whether consumers are drawn to precision-that is offset the uncertainty in investment decisions by over-relying on precise numerical information. Five incentivized experiments compared decisions when expected growth is presented in precise forecasts as opposed to ranges. Consumers are more likely to prefer and invest more in precise forecasts when they are evaluated jointly with ranges and when the range features a potential loss. Under these circumstances, precise forecasts give consumers more confidence to invest. This effect holds when consumers are told investment returns are uncertain. On the other hand, experiencing discrepancies between expected and actual growth dissipates the preference for precise forecasts. We identify conditions under which consumers are more likely to favor precise forecasts and how this could be avoided if necessary. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Hindsight bias not only occurs in individual perception but in written work (e.g., Wikipedia articles) as well. To avoid the possibility that biased written representations of events distort the views of broad audiences, one needs to understand the factors that determine hindsight bias in written work. Therefore, we tested the effect of three potential determinants: the extent to which an event evokes sense-making motivation, the availability of verifiable causal information regarding the event, and the provision of content policies. We conducted one field study examining real Wikipedia articles (N = 40) and three preregistered experimental studies in which participants wrote or edited articles based on different materials (total N = 720). In each experiment, we systematically varied one determinant. Findings provide further-and even more general-support that Wikipedia articles about various events contain hindsight bias. The magnitude of hindsight bias in written work was contingent on the sense-making motivation and the availability of causal information. We did not find support for the effect of content policies. Findings are in line with causal model theory and suggest that some types and topics of written work might be particularly biased by hindsight (e.g., coverage of disasters, research reports, written expert opinions). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Several decades of research have explored the links between exposure to violent entertainment media and subsequent aggression. However, there has been little research on the effects of exposure to images of real-life violence. In the present study, participants viewed either a video portraying acts of real violence, fictional violence, or a nonviolent video. After watching the video, mild aggressive behavior was assessed using the competitive reaction-time task. In 11 of the 17 preregistered measures, participants who viewed scenes of real-life violence exhibited lower levels of mild aggressive behavior compared to participants who viewed scenes of fictional violence from films and television shows. However, these effects were consistently small. The results suggest that exposure to images of real-life violence in the media may have a small inhibition effect on mild aggressive behavior in some contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).