title: The efficiency of similarity-focused comparisons in person perception.
abstract: Comparison processes are ubiquitous in person perception. Comparative thinking can follow two routes: People either search for similarities or for dissimilarities while comparing. Which of these two routes is more efficient? Previous research indicates that people could compare two geometrical figures faster if they focused on similarities rather than dissimilarities. I examine comparisons of people and measure the consumption of cognitive resources as indicator for efficiency. The results confirm an efficiency-advantage of similarity-focused comparisons for social stimuli.
authors.affiliation: University of Cologne, Department of Psychology, Richard-Strauss-Str. 2, 50931 Köln, Germany. katja.corcoran@uni-koeln.de
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Corcoran
mesh_terms: D004526:Efficiency; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012938:Social Perception; D013850:Thinking