Confirmatory Information Processing Research Articles

Confirmatory Information Processing in Legal Decision: Effect of Intimate Conviction

A large body of research has focused on legal decision-making in mixed courts of lay and professional judges. However, few studies have been conducted to test the impact on evidence processing of the intimate conviction instruction (ICI), a decision rule based on impression formation used in civil law systems. The influence of the two facets of the ICI (the decision rule and the motivation requirement) on confirmatory information processing (CIP) was studied in a harm-to-person case. Using a methodology combining the simulated juror and CIP paradigms, the decision rule (based on impression vs. rationality) and the motivation requirement (required vs. not required) were manipulated to observe their impact on assimilation and selective exposure biases. Results showed significant interactions of the two facets of the ICI but only on the assimilation bias. These results are discussed in the light of the evidence processes in the context of legal decision-making in criminal courts.

Jurors’ verdicts based on their intimate conviction: Influence of magistrate’s opinion on confirmatory information processing

A large body of research has focused on legal decision-making. However, few studies have tested the impact on evidence processing of the intimate conviction (IC) instruction, a decision rule based ...

Confirmatory Information Processing in Legal Decision: Effect of Intimate Conviction

Confirmatory Information Processing in Legal Decision: Effect of Intimate Conviction

The Effects of Self-Regulatory Resource and Message Complexity on Confirmatory Information Processing

The Effects of Self-Regulatory Resource and Message Complexity on Confirmatory Information Processing

Benefiting From Disagreement: Counterarguing Reduces Prechoice Bias in Information Evaluation

Confirmatory information processing (i.e., information distortion) is a robust phenomenon with no known mitigation. This research proposes that information distortion might be mitigated by disrupting its driver, namely, the need for cognitive consistency. Priming a counterarguing mindset should induce people to refute their emerging preferences, thereby disrupting the operation of cognitive consistency. Five studies confirm this prediction. Study 1 demonstrates that priming a counterarguing mindset decreases information distortion. Studies 2 and 3 replicate Study 1 and further show that the influence of a head start on choice diminishes when counterarguing is primed. Study 4 shows that priming counterarguing inhibits consistency‐related concepts. Finally, Study 5 demonstrates that counterarguing not only reduces distortion but also yields reduced commitment to the preferred alternative.

Dysfunctional Parenting and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration and Victimization among College Women: the Mediating Role of Schemas

Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMS) are negative cognitions about self and relationships that develop early in life, distort our perceptions of life experiences and are sustained via confirmatory information processing (Young et al. 2003). Although empirical evidence supports the relationship between EMS and psychopathology, there is a relative paucity of research regarding the relationship between EMS and intimate partner violence (IPV). The goal of the present study was to elucidate the complex relations between recollections of dysfunctional parenting, EMS, and IPV victimization and perpetration in adulthood. A sample of 305 women college students completed measures of perceptions of parental bonding, EMS, and relationship conflict behaviors. Results revealed that the EMS of subjugation and self-sacrifice accounted for 13.9% of the variance in IPV victimization; however, the EMS of subjugation was the only significant predictor of IPV victimization and mediated the relationship between recollections of dysfunctional parenting and IPV victimization. Additionally, although the EMS of entitlement, insufficient self-control, mistrust/abuse, abandonment, and social isolation accounted for 11.3% of the variance in IPV perpetration, only the EMS of insufficient self-control and mistrust/abuse were significant predictors of IPV perpetration and mediated the relationship between recollections of dysfunctional parenting and IPV perpetration. Results suggest that these cognitive schemas may be the mechanism through which dysfunctional parenting renders one vulnerable to violence in relationships.

If you judge, investigate! Responsibility reduces confirmatory information processing in legal experts.

If you judge, investigate! Responsibility reduces confirmatory information processing in legal experts.

Why, When, and How Personal Control Impacts Information Processing: A Framework

The present research investigates why, when, and how feelings of personal control influence the way consumers process product information. Four studies were conducted. The results show that under baseline conditions, consumers who believe they can control the environment (internal locus of control) show greater confidence in their emerging preference in a choice process and demonstrate higher levels of preference-supporting bias than consumers who believe the environment controls their fate (external locus of control). However, the opposite relationship between locus of control and confirmatory information processing occurs when a threat to personal control is encountered. When threatened, consumers with an internal (external) locus of control activate an accuracy (defense) goal that results in lower (higher) levels of confidence in their emerging preference and confirmatory information processing than consumers with an external (internal) locus of control. These findings are integrated within a general framework that accounts for the impact of personal control on information processing. The framework predicts and empirical evidence confirms that the alternative strategies adopted to process information at different levels of personal control affect both product choice and willingness to pay for a new product.

Chaos and Decision Making: Contextual Disorder Reduces Confirmatory Information Processing

When making decisions, individuals tend to systematically prefer information that supports their a priori views over information that conflicts with them. This phenomenon is known as confirmatory information processing. The present research investigated whether contextual disorder—a factor that is typically irrelevant to a given decision case yet can significantly influence decision quality—affects confirmatory information processing. In Study 1, decision makers in untidy environments evinced less confirmatory information processing than decision makers in tidy environments. Study 2 replicated this finding and demonstrated that divergent thinking is an important precondition of the relationship between disorder and confirmatory information processing.

The Effects of Temporal Distance on Confirmatory Information Processing

The present study investigates the influence of temporal distance on confirmatory information processing. Confirmatory information processing principally refers to a tendency of individuals to search and overestimate information that supports with their decision rather than looking for information conflicts(Fischer, Fischer, Englich, Aydin, Frey, 2011; Fischer, 2011). According to the theoretical viewpoint of Construal Level Theory(CLT, see Trope Liberman, 2010), temporal distance or perceived temporal proximity exerts an important discount effect on confirmatory information processing under individual and organizational decision making context. It is hypothesized that low temporal distance will increase confirmatory information processing and high temporal distance will decrease it. This discount effect is moderated by construal level mindset and decision's desirable and feasible representation.We have conducted three studies and our results have found to support our prediction. In Study 1, we have conducted two one-factor between-subjects experiments in which we manipulated temporal distance(near vs. future) and employed a classic selective exposure paradigm to explore the confirmatory information processing. Fifty college students participate in the experiment 1a and sixty college students join in the experiment 1b. The results have shown that participants in a near-temporal decision scenario strengthen their confirmatory information processing, while participants in a future-temporal scenario reduce their confirmatory information processing. Further, we have found that perceived decision certainty plays a partial mediating effect in the process. In study 2, we have conducted a 2×2 between-subjects experiment to investigate the moderating effect of construal level mindset in which we manipulated temporal distance(near vs. future) and construal level mindset(low vs. high). Ninety undergraduate students from a university in Shanghai participate this experiment. The finding have confirmed the temporal discount effect as study 1 did, and also supports a negative impact of construal level mindset on confirmatory information processing. As expected, the moderating effect is testified as well. The negative relationship between temporal distance and confirmatory information processing is stronger when construal level mindset is lower. And the negative relationship between them is weaker when construal level mindset is higher. In study 3, we have explored the moderating effect of decision desirable/feasible representation on the relationship between temporal distance and confirmatory information processing. We conducted a 2×2 between-subjects experiment to verify the hypothesis. Fifty-eight participants take part in this experiment and are randomly assigned into different treatments. Apart from a main effect of decision representation, the results also exhibits its moderating mechanism that the negative relationship between temporal distance and confirmatory information processing is stronger when the decision scenario is represented as high-feasibility/low-desirability, the negative relationship is much weaker when the decision scenario is represented as high-desirability/low-feasibility. The result is shown to support our hypotheses. Our results support the temporal discount effect of confirmatory information processing which shades some light on a new cognitive mechanism for biased information processing. This research brings an insight to the underlying process in mediating role of perceived decision certainty, which responds to the cognitive economy model of confirmatory information processing. Moreover, the abstract and concrete mental representation primed in both mindset and decision context exert a significant boundary mechanism for this temporal discount effect. The negative effects of temporal distance on confirmatory information processing could vary significantly with different level of abstract representation. Finally, our findings also have some practical implications for managing and reducing confirmation biases in the process of information search and evaluation when making a decision.

Selective Exposure, Decision Uncertainty, and Cognitive Economy: A New Theoretical Perspective on Confirmatory Information Search

AbstractWe propose that a variety of findings on selective exposure effects (confirmatory information search) and their different underlying psychological processes can be integrated utilizing a new model based upon perceived decision uncertainty and cognitive economy. The proposed model assumes that (a) perceived decision uncertainty is negatively related to the extent of engagement in confirmatory information search; (b) that decision makers are fundamentally motivated to preserve cognitive energy; and (c) that the cognitive processing of decision‐consistent information requires fewer cognitive resources than the processing of decision‐inconsistent information. By employing these three basic assumptions on cognitive economy and confirmatory information processing, we can integrate classic motivational (dissonance) and cognitive (informational) accounts of selective exposure.

Empower my decisions: The effects of power gestures on confirmatory information processing

Recent research has shown that social power systematically influences information processing in many ways, and can be induced simply via powerful gestures or postures. The current studies investigated the impact of embodied power on confirmatory information processing after decision making. Based upon previous social power research, we hypothesized that individuals who posed in powerful ways (making a clenched fist or sitting in an open, expansive posture) would systematically prefer decision-consistent over decision-inconsistent information; an effect known as selective exposure, or biased assimilation. Four studies consistently indicated that bodily positioning associated with high levels of power induced greater confirmatory tendencies in the evaluation and search stages of a subsequent, decision-relevant information task (Studies 1–4). This tendency is unlikely to be due to mere physical strain (Study 4), and was mediated by differences in experienced decision certainty (Studies 3 and 4); indicating that the embodiment of high power makes people more confident regarding the validity of their decisions. Consequently, high-power posers systematically prefer information that is consistent with their decision preference.

Selective exposure to information: How different modes of decision making affect subsequent confirmatory information processing

We investigated whether different modes of decision making (deliberate, intuitive, distracted) affect subsequent confirmatory processing of decision-consistent and inconsistent information. Participants showed higher levels of confirmatory information processing when they made a deliberate or an intuitive decision versus a decision under distraction (Studies 1 and 2). As soon as participants have a cognitive (i.e., deliberate cognitive analysis) or affective (i.e., intuitive and gut feeling) reason for their decision, the subjective confidence in the validity of their decision increases, which results in increased levels of confirmatory information processing (Study 2). In contrast, when participants are distracted during decision making, they are less certain about the validity of their decision and thus are subsequently more balanced in the processing of decision-relevant information.

The process of selective exposure: Why confirmatory information search weakens over time

The present research investigated whether the tendency to prefer decision-consistent to decision-inconsistent information after making a preliminary choice would vary during the sequential process of searching for additional pieces of decision-relevant information. Specifically, it was tested whether decision makers would be more confirmatory in their information evaluation and search at the commencement rather than end of an information search process. In fact, five studies revealed that participants exhibited stronger confirmatory tendencies in both information evaluation (Studies 2 and 5) and search (Studies 1, 3, and 4) immediately after making a preliminary decision compared to during the later stages of an information search process. With regard to the underlying mechanism, results further revealed that individuals appear to be more motivated to detect the best decision alternative at the beginning (as opposed to the end) of an information search process, which leads to increases in confirmatory information processing during these stages.

Self-regulation and selective exposure: The impact of depleted self-regulation resources on confirmatory information processing.

In the present research, the authors investigated the impact of self-regulation resources on confirmatory information processing, that is, the tendency of individuals to systematically prefer standpoint-consistent information to standpoint-inconsistent information in information evaluation and search. In 4 studies with political and economic decision-making scenarios, it was consistently found that individuals with depleted self-regulation resources exhibited a stronger tendency for confirmatory information processing than did individuals with nondepleted self-regulation resources. Alternative explanations based on processes of ego threat, cognitive load, and mood were ruled out. Mediational analyses suggested that individuals with depleted self-regulation resources experienced increased levels of commitment to their own standpoint, which resulted in increased confirmatory information processing. In sum, the impact of ego depletion on confirmatory information search seems to be more motivational than cognitive in nature.

The Impact of Common Features on Consumer Preferences: A Case of Confirmatory Reasoning

This article examines how confirmatory reasoning moderates the impact of attractive and unattractive common features on consumer preferences. Building on the existing research on confirmatory information processing and the motivated reasoning framework, I propose that consumers evaluate common features in a way that supports their already established preferences. In a series of three studies, I show that the impact of common features is moderated by their attractiveness and the strength of individuals' already established preferences. In the context of a choice task, only attractive features were found to enhance individuals' already established preferences, and this effect was more pronounced for consumers with already established brand preferences compared to consumers who were indifferent to the options. The effect of attractive and unattractive features was reversed in the context of a rejection rather than a selection task. These findings are interpreted in the context of consumers confirmatory reasoning aimed at reaching a consistent and readily justifiable decision.