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Chapter 10 - Evaluative Consequences of Sampling Distinct Information

from Part III - Consequences of Selective Sampling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2023

By
Hans Alves ,
Alex Koch  and
Christian Unkelbach
Edited by
Klaus Fiedler ,
Peter Juslin  and
Jerker Denrell
Klaus Fiedler
Affiliation:
Universität Heidelberg
Peter Juslin
Affiliation:
Uppsala Universitet, Sweden
Jerker Denrell
Affiliation:
University of Warwick
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Summary

People’s impressions, attitudes, and judgments necessarily rely on samples of information. We introduce a sampling principle according to which people seek distinct information that is rare and diverse, and that allows to differentiate between contexts, objects, people, or groups. Among distinct information samples, however, negative information is overrepresented. This follows because in most information ecologies, negative compared to positive information is less frequent, but more diverse. Consequently, when perceivers sample distinct information, resulting impressions, attitudes, and judgments will be negatively biased.

Keywords

valenceattitudessamplingdistinctivenessbiases
Type
Chapter
Information
Sampling in Judgment and Decision Making , pp. 222 - 244
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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