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Accountability: a social magnifier of the dilution effect
1Institute of Personality Assessment and Research, University of California, Berkeley 94720.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|September 1, 1989
Summary
Accountability can reduce or worsen judgmental bias. Accountable individuals diluted predictions with irrelevant data but were more influenced by additional diagnostic information, showing a lack of discrimination.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Decision Making
Background:
- Judgmental bias can be influenced by accountability.
- The dilution effect describes how irrelevant information can impact judgments.
- Understanding how accountability affects information processing is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the dual effect of accountability on judgmental bias, specifically the dilution effect.
- To examine how accountability influences the use of diagnostic and nondiagnostic information.
Main Methods:
- Participants made predictions based on diagnostic information alone or with added nondiagnostic/diagnostic data.
- Accountability was manipulated to compare responses between accountable and unaccountable subjects.
- Predictions were analyzed to assess the impact of information type and accountability.
Main Results:
- Accountable subjects exhibited a dilution effect, reducing their predictions when presented with nondiagnostic information.
- Accountable subjects showed increased responsiveness to additional diagnostic information.
- Accountability motivated broader information use but not improved discrimination of information relevance.
Conclusions:
- Accountability has a complex effect on judgment, potentially exacerbating bias through the dilution effect.
- While accountability increases information engagement, it does not necessarily enhance judgment accuracy.
- Further research is needed to understand how to improve information discrimination under accountability.
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