Magnitude comparisons distort mental representations of magnitude.
Many cognitive processes rely on representations of magnitude, yet these representations are often malleable (H. Helson, 1964; J. Huttenlocher, L. V. Hedges, & J. L. Vevea, 2000; A. Parducci, 1965). It is likely that factors that affect these representations in turn affect the psychological processes that rely on them. The authors conducted 4 experiments to investigate whether language-expressible magnitude comparisons distort mental representations of compared magnitudes. Participants compared magnitudes and estimated those magnitudes in a variety of tasks. Experiments 1 through 3 demonstrated systematic comparison-induced distortions. Experiment 4 demonstrated that comparison-induced distortions might account for the asymmetric dominance effect discussed in the decision-making literature. Potential effects of comparison-induced distortions on other psychological processes (e.g., density effects, order effects, body-size estimation, pain estimation, and consumer decision making) are discussed.
Choplin
Jessica M
JM
Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles 90095-1563, USA. choplin@psych.ucla.edu
Hummel
John E
JE
D003071:Cognition; D003657:Decision Making; D005556:Form Perception; D006801:Humans; D011939:Mental Recall; D012660:Semantics; D012858:Size Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires