Abstracts 2005 - The Psychonomic Society

Friday Evening Posters 3120–3122
we tested the hypothesis that context-specific gender–emotion schemata
affect judgments of witness credibility. Participants listened to the testimony
of either a male or a female witness displaying one of three
emotional states in one of two contexts (character witness, eyewitness)
and judged the credibility of the witness. Results indicated that different
combinations of factors affected judgments in the two witness contexts.
The findings highlight the contribution of gender–emotion–
context schemata to judgments in forensic contexts.
(3120)
Representation in Decision Making: Individuation Affects Sensitivity
to Relative Considerations. DANIEL M. BARTELS, Northwestern
University, & RUSSELL C. BURNETT, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
(sponsored by Douglas L. Medin)—Decisions often permit absolute
and relative considerations, and these may favor different choices.
Consider deciding between saving 60 of 240 lives at risk and saving
50 of 100 lives. The first maximizes absolute number saved; the second,
proportion saved. Although sometimes nonnormative, people
often base decisions such as these partly on relative considerations.
We aim to explain this effect in cognitive terms, proposing that one
determinant of the weights given to absolute and relative considerations
is the degree to which resources are construed as individuals versus
collections. We report several studies in which construal of resources
was manipulated via perceptual triggers such as independent
versus joint motion (which has been shown to promote construal as
individuals vs. collections). Relative considerations were less influential
when resources were construed as individuals, but this effect
was moderated by framing (gains vs. losses) and by another perceptual
factor (whether objects appeared discrete).
(3121)
Triplet Triangulator Calculator: Displays Data Triplets in a Triangle.
ROBERT M. HAMM, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences
Center—Many data sets include partitions into three categories: A, B,
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and C. Readily available displays compare pairs of categories, such as
A versus B or C, thus making some relations easier to see than others.
Graphing a triplet of numbers (0 < A, B, C < 1; C = 1 � A � B)
as a point in an equilateral triangle, using trilinear coordinates allows
consideration of all relations, unbiased except for up/down and
left/right perceptual preferences. An Excel calculator (TripTria.xls at
http://www.fammed.ouhsc.edu/robhamm/cdmcalc.htm) produces
such plots. Application to the following types of data is demonstrated:
(1) allocations of time among three activities, (2) strength of preference
among three options, (3) distribution of test responses among
“right,” “wrong,” and “don’t know.” It is proposed that this display
may enhance readers’ comprehension and recall of triplets of data and
may facilitate decision making when there are three options and when
outcomes are continent upon three possible events.
(3122)
Extending the SNARC Effect: Spatial Components in the Mental
Representations of Numbers, Symbols, and Percepts. SAMUEL
SHAKI, College of Judea and Samaria, & WILLIAM M. PETRUSIC,
Carleton University (sponsored by William M. Petrusic)—In each of
four experiments requiring pairwise comparative judgments, SNARC
effects were obtained. With comparison of the numerical magnitude
of pairs of positive numbers, response times (RTs) were shorter with
the left hand than with the right when the numbers were small, but
they were longer with the left hand than with the right when the numbers
were relatively large. This effect was obtained both with the instruction
to select the smaller digit in the pair and with that to select
the larger digit in the pair. Symbolic comparisons with perceptual referents
(e.g., size of animals) and comparisons with stimuli on a perceptual
continuum (visual extent) showed an instruction-dependent
SNARC effect. With the instruction to select the stimulus lower on the
underlying attribute, SNARC effects typically obtained with numbers
occurred. However, with the instruction to select the stimulus higher
on the attribute, reverse SNARC effects were obtained.