EXPRESS: Reliance on semantic and structural heuristics in sentence comprehension across the lifespan

People sometimes misinterpret the sentences that they read. One possible reason suggested in the literature is a race between slow bottom-up algorithmic processing and “fast and frugal” top-down heuristic processing that serves to support fast-paced communication but sometimes results in incorrect representations. Heuristic processing can be both semantic, relying on world knowledge and semantic relations between words, and structural, relying on structural economy. Scattered experimental evidence suggests that reliance on heuristics may change from greater reliance on syntactic information in younger people to greater reliance on semantic information in older people. We tested whether the reliance on structural and semantic heuristics changes with age in 137 Russian-speaking adolescents, 135 young adults, and 77 older adults. In a self-paced reading task with comprehension questions, participants read unambiguous high- vs. low-attachment sentences that were either semantically plausible or implausible: i.e., the syntactic structure either matched or contradicted the semantic relations between words. We found that the use of top-down heuristics in comprehension increased across the lifespan. Adolescents did not rely on structural heuristics, in contrast to young and older adults. At the same time, older adults relied on semantic heuristics more than young adults and adolescents. Importantly, we found that top-down heuristic processing was faster than bottom-up algorithmic processing: slower reading times were associated with greater accuracy specifically in implausible sentences.

Fear appeal cues to motivate users' security protection behaviors: an empirical test of heuristic cues to enhance risk communication

PurposeFirms continue to struggle with end users who do not follow recommended actions for safeguarding information security. Thus, the authors utilize insights gained from studies on heuristic processing of risk information to design cues in fear appeal messages more effectively so as to more strongly engender fear among users, which can in turn lead them to take protective actions toward information security. Specifically, four types of fear appeal cues are identified: numeric risk communication, social distance and goal framing in verbal risk communication and visual risk communication.Design/methodology/approachDrawing from protection motivation theory, the authors hypothesize that these fear appeal cues can engender fear among users to a greater extent. In addition, the authors hypothesize that users will perceive a higher level of severity and susceptibility when they perceive a large amount of fear. The research hypotheses were tested employing data collected through a laboratory experiment. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analyses were performed to analyze the data.FindingsThe study's results suggest that numeric and visual risk communication cues in security notices can significantly increase the amount of fear felt by users. In addition, social distance was found to marginally increase the amount of fear felt by users. However, unlike our expectation, goal framing was not found to increase the amount of fear when the other three types of fear appeal cues were also given in a security notice. It was also found that induced fear can increase the severity and susceptibility of threats as perceived by users.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature on fear appeal cues designed to promote users' security protection behaviors. No prior study has designed security notices featuring the four different types of fear appeal cues and empirically tested the effectiveness of those cues in inducing fear among users. The findings suggest that the design of fear appeal cues can be improved by understanding individuals' heuristic processing of risk information, which can be subject to cognitive biases.

Exploring the use of systematic and heuristic processing in the courtroom: the effect of evidence modality on jurors’ decision-making processes

The use of technology in the courtroom is increasingly commonplace. While some research has explored how technology may influence jurors throughout the trial itself, there has been little focus on how it might influence jurors during the deliberation period, or whether it affects their verdicts. The current study assessed whether the form of evidence available during the decision-making period, along with the mock juror’s level of motivation for the task, affects how trial information is processed and how verdict decisions are made. Mock-jurors (N = 243), half of whom were explicitly informed of the task’s importance, watched a video of a murder trial. During the decision-making phase, some jurors were then given the opportunity to review the trial video, transcript, or both before rendering a final verdict. While there were no differences in verdicts as a function of review condition, the amount of content mock-jurors reviewed differed by review condition.

Exploring the use of systematic and heuristic processing in the courtroom: the effect of evidence modality on jurors’ decision-making processes

The use of technology in the courtroom is increasingly commonplace. While some research has explored how technology may influence jurors throughout the trial itself, there has been little focus on how it might influence jurors during the deliberation period, or whether it affects their verdicts. The current study assessed whether the form of evidence available during the decision-making period, along with the mock juror’s level of motivation for the task, affects how trial information is processed and how verdict decisions are made. Mock-jurors (N = 243), half of whom were explicitly informed of the task’s importance, watched a video of a murder trial. During the decision-making phase, some jurors were then given the opportunity to review the trial video, transcript, or both before rendering a final verdict. While there were no differences in verdicts as a function of review condition, the amount of content mock-jurors reviewed differed by review condition.

The Influence of Situational Constraints on Consumers’ Evaluation and Use of Online Reviews: A Heuristic-Systematic Model Perspective

Online reviews help consumers make informed product choices by serving as a valuable source of information for a buying decision. However, consumer’s situational constraints such as time pressure or purchase uncertainty negatively impact the way in which buyers evaluate and use online reviews, reducing their effectiveness. This study examines the influence of situational constraints, namely perceived time pressure and purchase uncertainty, on consumers’ evaluation and use of online reviews for information search. This empirical study used an online survey to collect data from 560 Amazon Mechanical Turk users. Findings indicate that both perceived time pressure and perceived purchase uncertainty are positively associated with heuristic processing of online reviews but negatively associated with systematic processing of online reviews. Moreover, while both heuristic and systematic information processing increased buyers’ self-confidence in their purchase decisions, systematic processing led to greater buyer self-confidence than did heuristic processing. This study concludes with a discussion of practical and academic implications, as well as future research directions.

Who Is Willing to Engage in Social Gatherings During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Lockdown? A Curvilinear Relationship Between Age and Heuristic Processing

BackgroundThe Chinese government implemented a lockdown to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic during the Chinese Lunar New Year when people have the tradition to visit families and friends. Previous research suggested that heuristic processing increased risky behavioral willingness (e.g., desire to have social gatherings despite the pandemic) and that people’s tendency to use heuristic processing varied across different adulthood stages. This study thus investigated the relationships among age, heuristic processing of COVID-19-related information, and the willingness to have social gatherings during the lockdown.MethodsA sample of 1,651 participants was recruited from an online crowdsourcing platform between January 31 and February 04 in 2020, with a mean age of 30.69, 47.9% being women. Participants completed an online questionnaire about heuristic processing of COVID-19-related information, willingness to engage in social gatherings during the lockdown, age, and other demographic information.ResultsAge was found to have a U-shaped curvilinear relationship with heuristic processing, and heuristic processing was positively correlated with the willingness to have social gatherings. Further analyses showed that heuristic processing curvilinearly mediated the relationship between age and the willingness to have social gatherings.ConclusionCompared with young adults, emerging and older adults are more likely to engage in heuristic processing, which in turn, increases the willingness to have social gatherings. Heuristic processing serves as an underlying mechanism to explain the relationship between age and risky behavioral willingness.

Individual differences in strategy use and performance during fault diagnosis

Background Research on causal reasoning often uses group-level data analyses that downplay individual differences and simple reasoning problems that are unrepresentative of everyday reasoning. In three empirical studies, we used an individual differences approach to investigate the cognitive processes people used in fault diagnosis, which is a complex diagnostic reasoning task. After first showing how high-level fault diagnosis strategies can be composed of simpler causal inferences, we discussed how two of these strategies—elimination and inference to the best explanation (IBE)—allow normative performance, which minimizes the number of diagnostic tests, whereas backtracking strategies are less efficient. We then investigated whether the use of normative strategies was infrequent and associated with greater fluid intelligence and positive thinking dispositions and whether normative strategies used slow, analytic processing while non-normative strategies used fast, heuristic processing. Results Across three studies and 279 participants, uses of elimination and IBE were infrequent, and most participants used inefficient backtracking strategies. Fluid intelligence positively predicted elimination and IBE use but not backtracking use. Positive thinking dispositions predicted avoidance of backtracking. After classifying participants into groups that consistently used elimination, IBE, and backtracking, we found that participants who used elimination and IBE made fewer, but slower, diagnostic tests compared to backtracking users. Conclusions Participants’ fault diagnosis performance showed wide individual differences. Use of normative strategies was predicted by greater fluid intelligence and more open-minded and engaged thinking dispositions. Elimination and IBE users made the slow, efficient responses typical of analytic processing. Backtracking users made the fast, inefficient responses suggestive of heuristic processing.

A Sign of Trust? The value of source attribution in accolade claims

Organizations that have received an accolade or honor often share this information with current or prospective customers, either in a digital (i.e., on their website, social media, etc.) or physical (i.e., on-premise signs, outdoor signs, etc.) format. When publicizing their achievement, marketers must make decisions related to source attribution—that is, how much detail to provide and how prominently (if at all) to mention the thirdparty entity that bestowed the accolade upon them. This is an important question, particularly with respect to physical signs where informational complexity is often detrimental and visual clarity is paramount. In this research, I examine whether source attribution in signage materially affects consumer evaluations and behavioral intentions. Across three studies, I find converging evidence that source attribution in accolade claims does in fact bolster evaluations and behavioral intentions, even in the context of physical signage when consumers are likely to be engaged in heuristic processing. Furthermore, I provide evidence that these more positive judgments arise because attribution increases perceived credibility of the organization receiving the accolade.