On the role of familiarity with units of measurement in categorical accentuation: Tajfel and Wilkes (1963) revisited and replicated.

Full Abstract

The present article provides evidence for the role of participants' familiarity with units of measurement in categorical accentuation with unidimensional physical estimates. Belgian and American participants estimated the lengths of lines varying in length. Depending on the condition, the lines were or were not systematically associated with categorical labels, and the estimates were made either in inches or in centimeters. Consistent with our predictions, (a) categorical accentuation was higher when the lines were systematically categorized than when they were not, and (b) this effect was stronger when participants reported their estimates in an unfamiliar measurement unit (i.e., Belgian participants using inches, and American participants using centimeters). These findings support the view that people's reliance on categorical information is more likely to emerge given uncertain contexts of judgment. Additionally, they may help explain why researchers have had difficulties replicating the categorical accentuation effect in the past.

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Author information

Author/s: Corneille, Olivier (O); Klein, Olivier (O); Lambert, Sophie (S); Judd, Charles M (CM);

Affiliation: Catholic University of Louvain, Department of Experimental Psychology UPSO, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. olivier.corneille@psp.ucl.ac.be

Grants: R01 MH45049 (Agency:United States NIMH)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS (Psychol Sci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Jul; vol 13 (issue 4) : pp 380-3

Dates: Created 2002/07/24; Completed 2003/01/23; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 12137143, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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