Information Integration Model Research Articles

The role of belief accessibility in attitude formation

A widespread technique of persuasion involves altering attitudes by modifying beliefs. Information integration models of attitudes posit that an individual's beliefs about an object are related to the attitude toward that object. This study examined the hypothesis that for attitude formation, those beliefs that are more accessible from memory exert a greater influence on the resulting attitude. Knowledge structures involving three positive, three negative, and three neutral beliefs were created toward four novel altitude objects. The accessibility of either the positive or negative beliefs was manipulated. As predicted, the resulting attitudes were more strongly affected by accessible beliefs. These findings demonstrate that belief accessibility influences attitude formation. Implications for persuasion are discussed.

Prediction of Academic Performance among Chinese Students: Effort Can Compensate for Lack of Ability

Previous studies appear to show that effort was strongly emphasized by Chinese students. The present study examined the issue by asking subjects to predict the performance of hypothetical students whose effort, ability, and study skill levels were given. The way these various pieces of information were integrated and the relative importance of each of them were analyzed using the information integration model (Anderson, 1981). The subjects were 609 Chinese students at various educational levels and 102 teachers in Hong Kong. Results showed that Chinese students tended to use either the adding or the averaging rules, but not the multiplying rule. This supported the notion that Chinese students believed greater effort could compensate for the lack of ability.

A longitudinal study of real‐life decision making: Choosing a college

AbstractThree hundred and twenty two college‐bound high school students described aspects of their college decision‐making processes. Students listed their criteria as well as the alternatives (i. e., schools) under consideration, rated the importance of each criterion, and rated each alternative with respect to each criterion. They also gave their overall impressions of each alternative. Finally, students rated their comfort with the decision‐making process and, at the conclusion of the study, reported on how many schools they had applied to, had or had not been accepted at, were waiting to hear from, or were waitlisted at. Students consider four or five alternatives, and use eight to ten criteria in evaluating them. These figures do not change appreciably over the course of the process, although only about half the criteria or/and slightly more than half of the schools considered at one time are considered again 6 months later, and there are several changes in the kinds of criteria considered at different points in time. There was a marginally significant trend for higher ability and average ability students to consider more criteria, more distinct types of criteria, and more alternatives than do lower ability students. There were no gender differences in this regard. Gender differences and academic ability group differences were apparent, however, in the types of criteria students reported. Participation in multiple sessions in this study had few reliable effects on decision‐making performance. Students were given a list of 34 standard criteria at each session, and incorporated some of these into their own lists of criteria during subsequent sessions. However, there was no indication that repeated participation led students to adopt a more analytical strategy than they would have otherwise. Data were compared with three linear models of information integration. Models using data with multiple criteria better fit the students' data than did a model using only the most important criterion. Higher ability students were particularly better able to integrate information according to linear models.

An analysis of the temporal integration mechanism in human motion perception

We present a model for the temporal integration of apparent motion information. The model is constructed by considering psychophysical and neurophysiological data, and consists of the leaky integration of pulsatile motion detector responses to apparent motion stimuli. Each pulse represents a motion detector populational response to a discrete spatial displacement of the spatial pattern. Temporal contrast sensitivity determines the shape of constant-stimulus-duration threshold curves for image frame exposure durations less than about 133 msec. The shape of the threshold curve for image frame exposure durations greater than about 133 msec is determined by the leaky integrator time constant and the shape of the pulses emitted by the motion detectors. The leaky integrator model exhibits threshold saturation behaviour (the reaching of a maximum sensitivity or minimum threshold) seen in psychophysical data as well as dependence of saturation time on the frame rate of the apparent motion stimulus. A low frame rate results in a longer time-to-saturation because the leaky integrator discharges more between detector output pulses. When the motion detector output pulses are far enough apart there is effectively no temporal integration and therefore no threshold improvement over time. Finally, the behaviour of the psychophysical threshold curves across spatial displacement sizes is consistent with a populational-response threshold mechanism combined with spatial summation over a non-uniform distribution of detector types across the visual field.

Manufacturing Information Integration Using a Reference Model

Virtual corporations, enterprise re‐engineering, and adaptive/agile manufacturing are all new concepts based on the accomplishments of integrated manufacturing of the past decade. The new manufacturing enterprises are characterized by an ability to effect flexible reconfiguration of resources, shorter cycle times and quick response to customer demands. Information is a key factor in transcending physical barriers and imparting the enterprise‐oriented agility and adaptiveness to organizations. To this end, a theory‐based reference model for information integration is needed in manufacturing enterprises. Employs the paradigm of parallel formulation as the reference model and demonstrates how it is used to guide the planning for information integration. The model provides both a detailed data and task analysis of manufacturing functions and their interactions, and guidelines for regrouping tasks into parallel processes and thereby achieving a high level of global integration. Describes a case study of the model, conducted on the existing CIM model at Rensselaer to evaluate and reformulate the previous processes. The results show a better design featuring concurrent execution of functions which in turn support agility and adaptiveness.

Effects of information content and evaluative extremity on positivity and negativity biases.

This article extends models that assume that the integration of mixed (positive and negative) information results in a negativity bias in the morality domain but a positivity bias in the competence domain. Using functional analysis, this study predicted a positivity bias for moderately evaluated information and a negativity bias for extremely evaluated information. Content domain (competence vs. morality) and evaluative extremity produced main effects in a 2 x 2 experiment where 108 Ss were provided with descriptions of negative and positive behaviors of fictitious targets. As expected, the negativity effect in the morality domain was strong for extremely evaluated information but weak or nonexistent for moderately evaluated information. In contrast, the positivity effect in the competence domain was stronger for moderately than for extremely evaluated information. We suggest that positive and negative evaluations serve as approach and avoidance cues in interpersonal perception. The border between good and evil is located within rather than between persons: Usually, the same person shows both positive and negative attributes. An exception may be characters in the trivial literature, but this literature is considered trivial exactly because it is populated with black and white characters. According to the well-known averaging model of information integration (N. H. Anderson, 1981), observers' impressions of a person should be neutral if this person shows the same number of positive and negative attributes, each to the same extent. Numerous studies reveal, however, that even if the relative number of positive and negative attributes is controlled and balanced, negative impressions tend to emerge (e.g., Birnbaum, 1973; Fiske, 1980; Oden & Anderson, 1971; Reeder & Coovert, 1986; Reeder & Spores, 1983; Roskey & Birnbaum, 1974; Van der Pligt & Eiser, 1980; Warr, 1974). This suggests that negative information, even if equal in extremity to positive information, is given more weight in information integration, thus yielding a negativity effect. This effect has been explained in terms of the relative novelty of negative information (Fiske, 1980), its lower ambiguity (Birnbaum, 1972; Wyer, 1973), or its greater discrepancy with the general positivity of the typical or average person (Simpson & Ostrom, 1976). According to Skowronski and Carl

Dynamic network models and driver information systems

Dynamic network models are needed to analyze traffic congestion patterns for new real-time motorist information systems. In previous research, a dynamic network modeling framework incorporating behavioral models of drivers' route and departure time choices and their day-to-day adjustment processes was developed. Network performance in this framework is represented by time dependent arrival and departure rates, link occupancies, and queuing delays. The purpose of this paper is to extend this framework to include explicit models of drivers' information acquisition and integration. The need for these models is motivated by considering the possible beneficial and counter-productive effects that may be caused by enhanced motorist information. Information on network conditions influences the set of routes considered by a driver and also affects the perceived values of the level of service attributes. The paper presents the structure of a dynamic model in which newly acquired information may affect pretrip and en-route travel decisions. To assess the potential magnitudes of the effects that were identified further theoretical and empirical research is needed.

Integration of information from multiple element displays

This experiment examined the processing of information from multiple element visual displays, using techniques derived from the theory of signal detectability. The method allows one to specify how observers integrate information from individual elements of a display. The experiment tested numerical and graphical displays having different display sizes, durations, and arrangements of elements. Observer performance increased with the number, m, of display elements, but at less than the ideal √ m rate. Observer performance was consistent with a model of information integration constrained by internal noise. Linear arrays of elements resulted in better performance than did square arrays. Graphically coded elements resulted in better performance than did numerical elements. Observer decision weighting of element information from graphical displays was approximately uniform across spatial position, but the weighting of information from numerical displays was concentrated on elements near the fixation point.

Risk perception in a simulated industrial purchasing task: The Effects of single versus multi‐play decisions

AbstractAn experiment was conducted to test hypotheses concerning the impact of single‐play versus multiple‐play decisions made under risk in a simulated industrial purchasing setting. Results revealed that when a decision had multiple plays (e.g., purchase 100 personal computers), decision makers combined probabilities and outcomes to form their risk perceptions in a manner consistent with a multiplicative information integration model. In contrast, when a decision had a single trial (e.g., purchase one large mainframe computer), information was combined in a manner consistent with a non‐multiplicative integration pattern. In addition, when multiple trials of the decision occurred, subjects perceived lower risk than if the decision had a single play, even though the expected values of the decisions were the same. The results were discussed in terms of their relation to the use of expected value analysis as a decision‐making tool and in terms of their implications for industrial and consumer buying behavior.

Models of integration given multiple sources of information.

Several models of information integration are developed and analyzed within the context of a proto-typical pattern-recognition task. The central concerns are whether the models prescribe maximally efficient (optimal) integration and to what extent the models are psychologically valid. Evaluation, integration, and decision processes are specified for each model. Important features are whether evaluation is noisy, whether integration follows Bayes's theorem, and whether decision consists of a criterion rule or a relative goodness rule. Simulations of the models and predictions of the results by the same models are carried out to provide a measure of identifiability or the extent to which the models can be distinguished from one another. The models are also contrasted against empirical results from tasks with 2 and 4 response alternatives and with graded responses.

Models of integration given multiple sources of information.

Several models of information integration are developed and analyzed within the context of a proto-typical pattern-recognition task. The central concerns are whether the models prescribe maximally efficient (optimal) integration and to what extent the models are psychologically valid. Evaluation, integration, and decision processes are specified for each model. Important features are whether evaluation is noisy, whether integration follows Bayes's theorem, and whether decision consists of a criterion rule or a relative goodness rule. Simulations of the models and predictions of the results by the same models are carried out to provide a measure of identifiability or the extent to which the models can be distinguished from one another. The models are also contrasted against empirical results from tasks with 2 and 4 response alternatives and with graded responses.

The perception of temporal deviations in isochronic patterns.

In a study of perceptual synchronization with an isochronic sequence, subjects were given the following task: They heard an isochronic sequence of tones in which the last interval was either correct or too long. Their task was to detect irregularity. The independent variables were the number of tones heard and the time interval between them. The dependent variable was the difference limen (DL) for the detectability of the irregularity. Two experiments were performed in this study, differing in the way in which the trials were blocked: In Experiment 1, stimuli with the same period were presented in blocks, whereas in Experiment 2, the period of the stimulus was randomized. The results show that in Experiment 1 the number of tones in the stimulus did not affect the detectability of the anisochrony. In Experiment 2, the number of the DL was a decreasing function of the number of tones heard. Moreover, the decrease of the DL was larger than one would expect from a simple model of information integration, which assumes that subjects improve their performance by averaging their percepts of the first intervals in the sequence. The difference between this task and experiments on the discrimination of temporal intervals is discussed.

Construct and Criterion-Related Validity of Planning, Simultaneous, and Successive Cognitive Processing Tasks

This paper presents evidence for the construct and criterion-related validity of the Planning - Simultaneous - Successive model of information-integration presented by Das, Kirby, and Jarman (1975) and provides support for tasks designed to operationalize the model. A sample of 434 students in grades 2, 6, and 10 were administered cognitive processing and achievement tests. Significant developmental changes in scores across the three grades and significant correlations with achievement in reading and math provided support for the validity of these cognitive processing tasks. Simultaneous and planning appeared to be more related to math than successive processes at the younger ages, and reading correlated with coding at the lower ages and both coding and planning at tenth grade. Planning and coding correlated significantly with achievement (rs = .23, .45, .56 and .37, .33, .52 for grades 2, 6, and 10 for planning and coding, respectively). Planning was related increasingly to the total MAST, as well as separate reading and math scores, with age. Implications for the assessment of intellectual functioning are presented.

Message discrepancy and the persistence of attitude change: Implications of an information integration model

A mathematical model of long-term attitude change is presented. The model integrates various processes (forgetting, cognitive responses, and external messages), which occur subsequent to initial attitude change, into an information integration model. There is also a discussion as to how message discrepancy might affect these processes, and it is shown that the discrepancy which produces the greater initial change need not produce the greater long-term change. This model was then used to analyze the data from an experiment in which subjects ( N = 442) were given one or two messages which were either moderately or extremely discrepant from their own views and in which attitude change was measured both immediately after the message(s) and several days later. Initially, more attitude change was associated with greater discrepancy and with two (vs one) experimental messages. Later, the position advocated in the first message explains all significant group differences. Moreover, those who had received the less discrepant message showed more long-term attitude change. The data analysis demonstrates the estimation of parameters in the model and the values of these parameters provide some information as to the relationship between discrepancy and subsequent message processing.

Pretrial publicity: Media coverage and guilt attribution1

Courts are often placed in the position of estimating community bias against a defendant on the basis of media coverage. This research attempts to estimate the degree to which one can predict pretrial guilt attribution from the publicity given a case by the media. The research also attempts to examine the relative impact of progressively higher levels of pretrial publicity using an information integration model. Data from five surveys of pretrial publicity, covering four murder cases, is analyzed. The results indicate that no media variable tested for was a good predictor of pretrial guilt attribution. The data also supports a linear rather than a configural model of information integration. The implications for these findings are also discussed.

L'intégration des informations dans le jugement social : niveau de réussite, niveau de difficulté et de capacité jugée

Summary : Information integration in social judgment. Level of performance, level of task difficulty and assessment of competence. How does a naive subject integrale information about a person's performance in an exam and the difficulty of this exam, when he has to judge the person's competence ? In the first experiment, independant groups of subjects were used in each condition of a complete factorial design : 3 levels of Success X 3 levels of Difficulty X 2 Sex of the person to be judged ; Success is varied through the score obtained in an exam; Difficulty, through the score obtained in generai by people ; Sex, through a Christian name ; the subjects were female students of several universities. An analysis of variance shows a main effect of Success and Difficulty, an interaction between Success and Difficulty and a triple interaction. Partial analyses show that judgement of competence increases with Success, but it increases with Difficulty only at the low level of success for the two sexes and at the middle level of success for the man. In a second experiment, with the same factors, procedure and female students, each subject had to judge 9 persons, each representing a combination of one level of Success and one level of Difficulty ; these persons are masculine for half the subjects and feminine for the other ones. There was a main effect of each factor and an interaction between Success and Difficulty ; partial analyses of variance show that judgment increases with Difficulty at each level of Success for the two sexes ; but the effect of Difficulty is stronger at the low level of Success. The results are discussed in terms of differential usefulness of informations and models of information integration. Key words : information integration, social judgment, sex.

More Than Meets the Eye: The Effect of Missing Information on Purchase Evaluations

Information integration models have generally assumed that individuals making evaluations ignore attributes for which no information is available. However, recent evidence indicates that individuals make inferences about missing information and that these inferences have a predictable influence on the evaluations being made. The present study required individuals to evaluate television purchases, which were described by varying amounts of information—the greater the amount of missing information, the less favorable the evaluation. The evaluations' results are reported, as are the nonconfigural effects of the relationships among multiple attributes. Finally, the implications of this research for theory and marketing strategy are discussed.

How changes in price and salary affect economic satisfaction: Information integration models and inference processes

Preliminary studies demonstrated the interactive effects of changes in salary and inflation rate on feelings of personal satisfaction, and showed that the effects of price increases in different cost categories could he described by a weighted average model. Participants in the main study were presented with varying hypothetical economic situations which included salary changes (raises) as well as specific price changes. A ratio model was found to describe how raise levels and price increases were combined. The rationality of this model was discussed in terms of how variations in price and income would affect the amount of a given commodity that could he purchased. On some trials only partial information was presented. Low ratings of personal satisfaction were produced when information about raises was missing, and high ratings were produced when information about price increases was missing. These results were discussed in terms of inferences people make when a key source of information is missing.

Inferences of ability and effort: Evidence for two different processes.

Past research and theory on causal inference has not explored the effects of varying the reliability of information. In two experiments, subjects judged either ability (given performance and effort information) or effort (given performance and ability information) where both the reliability and value of the given information varied. Individual differences were found in the judged relationship between ability and effort. Some judged ability and effort to be positively related, whereas others, judged ability and effort to be negatively related. These groups also differed in the way information reliability influenced their judgments, The positive group showed effects that agree with either an averaging or correlational model: the higher the reliability of one type of information, the less the effect of the other type of information. For the negative group, an increase in the reliability of one type of information actually increased the effect of the other type of information, a result that is inconsistent with the averaging model. Both an expectancy-contrast model and a correlational model can account for the results of the negative group. The different effects of information reliability for the two groups can be interpreted as evidence of two different inference processes. The results show the flexibility of human judgment strategies and the need for research considering variables that influence strategy use. The present research deals with the issue of information credibility in causal inference, specifically with how the reliability of information affects inferences of ability and effort. Although there are many social psychological theories of causal inference (Kelley, 1972, 1973; Reeder & Brewer, 1979), there has been little attempt to formulate a theoretical representation of the way information credibility influences causal inferences. The present research tests alternative representations of the information integration process for causal inferences. Because models of information integration can be regarded as formal representations of causal schemata (Surber, 1981b), the present study can be seen as part of a research program aimed at specifying the variables that influence when different infor

Spatial and Verbal Displays in a C3 Probablistic Information Integration Task

Eight subjects performed a probablistic information integration task in which multiple cues, in favor of either of two competing hypotheses were presented. The cues varied in their reliability and their diagnostic value in choosing between the hypotheses. Primary interest focussed on the comparison of digital and analog-graphical displays, and upon sources of non-optimality in the information integration process. Generally the analog displays proved superior to the digital, and performance was better when information was presented at a more rapid rate. Subjects appeared to be non-optimal in their treatment of reliability vs. diagnosticity. However, departures from optimality related to serial position effects and to the use of the appropriate model of information integration were not observed.