The impact of a relational mindset on information distortion

Abstract

The preference-supporting bias in information evaluation, known as information distortion, is a ubiquitous phenomenon. The present work demonstrates that priming a relational mindset induces individuals to process independent units of information interdependently and therefore contributes to increasing distortion. In three studies, a relational mindset is activated by asking participants to generate solutions to cross-domain analogies. All three studies show that the activation of a relational mindset then carries over into a second, unrelated choice task and increases distortion. In addition, the present work shows that generating solutions to cross-domain analogies activates a high level of construal, which in turn mediates the effect of relational thinking on information distortion. Finally, the present work also demonstrates that imposing a cognitive load during the choice task reduces the impact of the relational mindset on distortion. In sum, this research demonstrates that the same mechanism that promotes creative thinking (i.e., seeing relationships across concepts) may also induce more biased information processing by prompting individuals to process independent units of information interdependently.