title: A cross-cultural perspective on the preference for potential effect: an individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis approach.
abstract: A recent paper [Tormala ZL, Jia JS, Norton MI (2012). The preference for potential. Journal of personality and social psychology, 103: 567-583] demonstrated that persons often prefer potential rather than achievement when evaluating others, because information regarding potential evokes greater interest and processing, resulting in more favorable evaluations. This research aimed to expand on this finding by asking two questions: (a) Is the preference for potential effect replicable in other cultures? (b) Is there any other mechanism that accounts for this preference for potential? To answer these two questions, we replicated Tormala et al.'s study in multiple cities (17 studies with 1,128 participants) in China using an individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis approach to test our hypothesis. Our results showed that the preference for potential effect found in the US is also robust in China. Moreover, we also found a pro-youth bias behind the preference for potential effect. To be specific, persons prefer a potential-oriented applicant rather than an achievement-oriented applicant, partially because they believe that the former is younger than the latter.
authors: School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors: Xiaomin
authors: X
authors: Sun
authors: Department of Psychology, School of Education Science and Technology, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310023, China.
authors: Dan
authors: D
authors: Xu
authors: School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors: Fang
authors: F
authors: Luo
authors: Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
authors: Zihan
authors: Z
authors: Wei
authors: School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
authors: Cong
authors: C
authors: Wei
authors: Department of Public Administration, Chinese Academy of Governance, Beijing, 100089, China.
authors: Gang
authors: G
authors: Xue
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D006801:Humans; D012919:Social Behavior; D014481:United States