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Accessibility
(Week 5) (Contextual accessibility (Trait concepts
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Accessibility
(Week 5)
Definition and characteristicsReadiness with which some information that has been stored (e.g. categories, concepts, stored knowledge) is used based on their recency and frequency
- It's the cognitive mechanism of priming (the influence of prior context on the interpretation of subsequent information)
- Priming occurs when some knowledge becomes accessible and applicable to the present stimuli (could be conscious or unconscious)
- It determines: attention, encoding (translation of stimuli to mental representation), mental representations (how we interpret a stimuli)
- Social information is inherently ambiguous, thus whether a category is more accessible than others can determine social perception
- Situational priming affects the accessibility of several types of stimuli:
- (personality) traits
- social categories
- social behaviour
- problem solving
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Contextual accessibility
Trait concepts
- Ambiguous behaviours (shooting rapids in a canoe) can be interpreted in positive or negative way depending on whether we are exposed to positive (adventurous) vs. negative (reckless) traits
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- stronger accessibility effects when the prime is relevant and when it has either a positive or a negative valence
- would judge someone depending on prior exposure to personality traits
Social categories
(effects of a social cue on attitudes toward an outgroup member
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Overhearing a derogatory ethic slur can lower the evaluation of a target person
Greenberg & Pyszczynski, 1985
- white participants judged more negatively a black debator who lost a debate when they heard a white confederate using a slur
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- labels activate negative schemata that lead to negative evaluations
- overhearing someone makes categories more accessible (recency)
- once stored knowledge is activated - it can impact judgements
Social behaviour
(making some categories more accessible can affect relevant social behaviours)Williams & Bargh (2008)
- Holding a cup of hot (vs iced) coffee made participants judge a target person as warmer (e.g. generous)
- Influenced judgement of target person - due to activation of "warm" or "cold" category had become more accessible
Problem solving
(different primes can facilitate or hinder the solution of a problem - Higgins and Claires, 1980)Candle ProblemDuncker (1945)
- How can zou attach the candle to the wall above the table so that it doesn't drip wax on the table?
- Previous exposeure to abjects described with different linguistic constructions (containers and content as separable vs non-separable) influenced participants' performance
- Box of nails -- Box and nails
- emphasising differences in objects
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Higgins, King & Mavin (1982)
- "Personality" tests:
- A modified version of the card-sorting technique to identify accessible traits
- 2 weeks later: "person perception" task:
- read an essay describing another student, which included both accessible and inaccessible tarits
- 10 min delay (non-verbal task)
Reproduction and impression measures
2 weeks later: same reproduction and impression measures
Results
- For both impression and reproductions, the information related to inaccessibile traits was omitted more than that related to accessible traits
- Individual differences in construct accessibility determined differences in both impressions and memory of a target, even for 2 weeks
Chronic Accessibility
- Accessibility due to:
- Frequent activation of a category (e.g. trait concepts)
- The consequences of individual construct accessibility last over time
- Higgins et al. (1982)
- Information related to individuals' accessible traits was more represented in story reproductions and impressions of a target
Acute Accessibility
- There can also be temporarily induced individual differences in construct accessibility --> momentary differences produced by priming
- It's related to recently activated information
- Example form impression formation: Higgins et al. (1977)
Higgins, Rholes & Jones (1977)
- "Perception" task: Name the colour of a slide while you retain some memory words (Stroop test):
- applicable, positive: "adventurous"
- applicable, negative: "reckless"
- non-applicable, positive: "obedient"
- non-applicable, negative: "disrespectful"
- "Reading comprehension" task: read an ambiguous description of a target person ("Donald")
DVs (immediately and after 10 to 14 days):
- desireability ratings of Donald
- Rewrite the description of Donald
Results:
- The target was seen as more desirable by participants exposed to positive applicable traits (e.g. adventurous) vs negative applicable traits (e.g. reckless)
The recency of activation of an evaluative category increased its accessibility
"Attributions are not determined solely by the behavioural, dispositional, and/or situational information about a stimulus person, or even one's attitude toward this person. At least in ambiguous situations, category accessibility can also determine how a stimulus person is characterised"
