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When and why is ease of retrieval informative?
1Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-1900, USA. raghubir@haas.berkeley.edu
Memory & Cognition
|December 31, 2005
Summary
Memory retrieval ease influences judgments. When expected and experienced ease align, content guides decisions. Discrepancies shift focus to the retrieval experience itself, impacting behavior and attitudes.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Ease of retrieval is a cognitive heuristic influencing judgments.
- Understanding when this heuristic is applied versus when its content is used is crucial for judgment and decision-making research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the conditions under which ease of retrieval influences judgments.
- To differentiate between judgments based on retrieval content versus retrieval fluency.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments were conducted.
- Participants' subjective experience of ease of retrieval was manipulated and compared to expected ease.
- Behavioral frequency and attitudinal judgments were recorded.
Main Results:
- When experienced ease matched expected ease, retrieved content informed judgments.
- When a discrepancy existed, the subjective ease of retrieval became the basis for judgments.
- Ease of retrieval was informative unless task contingencies explained the discrepancy.
Conclusions:
- The subjective experience of ease of retrieval is a powerful cue for judgments, but its influence depends on its consistency with expectations.
- Discrepancies between experienced and expected ease redirect judgment strategies.
- The informativeness of retrieval ease is moderated by attributions to external factors.
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