ERIC Number: EJ689188
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2004-May
Pages: 10
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0278-7393
EISSN: N/A
Typical Versus Atypical Unpacking and Superadditive Probability Judgment
Sloman, Steven; Rottenstreich, Yuval; Wisniewski, Edward; Hadjichristidis, Constantinos; Fox, Craig R.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v30 n3 p573-582 May 2004
Probability judgments for packed descriptions of events (e.g., the probability that a businessman does business with a European country) are compared with judgments for unpacked descriptions of the same events (e.g., the probability that a businessman does business with England, France, or some other European country). The prediction that unpacking can decrease probability judgments, derived from the hypothesis that category descriptions are interpreted narrowly in terms of typical instances, is contrasted to the prediction of support theory that unpacking will generally increase judged probabilities (A. Tversky & D. J. Koehler, 1994). The authors varied the typicality of unpacked instances and found no effect of unpacking with typical instances (additivity) and a negative effect with atypical instances (superadditivity). Support theory cannot account for these findings in its current formulation.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A