Project Unkelbach

The present project investigates the central role of subjective frequencies of information on judgments and decisions. For example, if people remember more positive aspects of Brand A than of Brand B, they should buy Brand A. The standard assumption is that subjective frequencies should be a function of objective frequencies in the environment. However, there are two subtle but powerful influences that inflate the subjective representation of objective frequencies: repeating information and splitting information into smaller sub-categories. This often leads to sub-optimal decisions and systematic biases in judgments. Going beyond previous research, the interaction of these repetition and split effects with the information environment will be explored, together with mediators and moderators for these effects. Specifically, positive information should be more prone to repetition effects and negative information to split effects, which provides insights into the underlying cognitive structure of the effects. As these effects are largely unwanted in an environment in which information is repeated and split all the time (TV, radio, newspapers, and internet), understanding the processes underlying the effects will allow developing successful strategies for de-biasing. Finally, the project aspires to integrate previous theories into a general model of how and when subjective frequencies influence judgments and decisions.

Staff

PD Dr. Christian Unkelbach
Institute of Psychology, Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg
Tel: +49 (0) 6221 54 7701
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Dipl.-Psych. Michael Gräf
Institute of Psychology, Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg
Tel: +49 (0) 6221 54 7362
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