Context and the interpretation of likelihood information: the role of intergroup comparisons on perceived vulnerability.
Four experiments investigated how people's perceptions about a group's (e.g., women's) vulnerability to a disease are influenced by information about the prevalence of the disease in a comparable group (e.g., men). Participants read symptom and prevalence infomation about fictitious diseases before answering questions regarding target group vulnerability. Participants used the prevalence rate for a nontarget group as an immediate comparison standard for intuitively interpreting the degree of vulnerability of a target group, resulting in robust contrast effects. Experiments 3 and 4 illustrated that these contrast effects can cause a person's intuitive perceptions about a group's vulnerability to selected diseases to conflict with his or her knowledge of the prevalence rates for the diseases. The results support a distinction between 2 components of psychological uncertainty-beliefs in objective probability and more intuitive perceptions of certainty.
Windschitl
Paul D
PD
Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242, USA. paul-windschitl@uiowa.edu
Martin
René
R
Flugstad
Annette R
AR
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D001364:Awareness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004198:Disease Susceptibility / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019545:Intuition; D008297:Male; D012933:Social Identification; D013240:Stereotyping