{"title":"Do People Avoid Extreme Judgments in the Beginning? Calibration and Contrast as Explanations of Serial Position Effects in Evaluations","authors":"Tabea J. Zorn, C. Unkelbach","doi":"10.1521/soco.2023.41.3.209","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In serial evaluations (e.g., teachers evaluating student performances; managers evaluating job applications), people typically provide more extreme judgments at the end of a series compared to the beginning. Serial positions thereby represent an unwanted contamination of the judgment process; bad performances profit and good performances suffer from early positions. Prior research suggested a motivational calibration explanation: People withhold extreme judgments at the beginning to avoid consistency violations throughout the series. However, more extreme ratings at the end might also follow from comparison-based contrast effects. Three experiments (n = 509) tested the contributions of calibration processes at early positions and contrast effects at later positions to the overall serial position effect. The results replicated the avoidance of extreme judgments at early positions and provided support for comparison-based contrast (Exp. 1-3) and calibration influences (Exp. 3). These data suggest differential interventions to reduce unwanted serial position effects.","PeriodicalId":48050,"journal":{"name":"Social Cognition","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Social Cognition","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2023.41.3.209","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In serial evaluations (e.g., teachers evaluating student performances; managers evaluating job applications), people typically provide more extreme judgments at the end of a series compared to the beginning. Serial positions thereby represent an unwanted contamination of the judgment process; bad performances profit and good performances suffer from early positions. Prior research suggested a motivational calibration explanation: People withhold extreme judgments at the beginning to avoid consistency violations throughout the series. However, more extreme ratings at the end might also follow from comparison-based contrast effects. Three experiments (n = 509) tested the contributions of calibration processes at early positions and contrast effects at later positions to the overall serial position effect. The results replicated the avoidance of extreme judgments at early positions and provided support for comparison-based contrast (Exp. 1-3) and calibration influences (Exp. 3). These data suggest differential interventions to reduce unwanted serial position effects.
期刊介绍:
An excellent resource for researchers as well as students, Social Cognition features reports on empirical research, self-perception, self-concept, social neuroscience, person-memory integration, social schemata, the development of social cognition, and the role of affect in memory and perception. Three broad concerns define the scope of the journal: - The processes underlying the perception, memory, and judgment of social stimuli - The effects of social, cultural, and affective factors on the processing of information The behavioral and interpersonal consequences of cognitive processes.