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Context effects in political judgement: assimilation and contrast as a function of categorization processes
Author(s) -
Bless Herbert,
Schwarz Norbert
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-0992(199803/04)28:2<159::aid-ejsp860>3.0.co;2-4
Subject(s) - categorization , psychology , contrast (vision) , construal level theory , social psychology , politics , assimilation (phonology) , judgement , cognitive psychology , linguistics , political science , artificial intelligence , computer science , law , philosophy
Two experiments demonstrate that thinking about a given politician may result in assimilation as well as contrast effects in evolutions of the politician's party. In two experiments, assimilation effects were observed when an experimental categorization task elicited the inclusion of a highly respected politician in the representation formed of his party, whereas contrast effects were observed when the categorization task elicited his exclusion from the representation, with the control group falling in between. Hence, the same information may elicit assimilation as well as contrast effects, depending on its use in mental construal. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.