The validity effect is the increase in perceived validity of repeated statements. In the first experiment, subjects rated repeated and nonrepeated statements for validity, familiarity, and source recognition. Validity and familiarity were enhanced by repetition, but source dissociation was not. A path analysis suggested that familiarity mediates perceived validity. In Experiment 2, statements presented in a natural setting were later rated for perceived validity, familiarity, and source recognition. Repetition had parallel effects on validity and familiarity ratings, but source dissociation was unaffected. Controlling for familiarity statistically eliminated the validity effect. In Experiment 3, the effect of prior knowledge on validity judgments was studied. Subjects rated the validity of statements that were related or unrelated to their field of expertise. Those most knowledgeable about the topic were most likely to exhibit the validity effect. Overall, the results suggest that familiarity is the basis of judged validity.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Anderson, J. R. (1981). Effect of prior knowledge on memory for information. Memory and Cognition, 9, 237-246.
2.
Arkes, H. R. , Boehm, L. E., & Xu, G. (1991). The determinants of judged validity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 27, 576-605.
3.
Arkes, H. R. , Hackett, C., & Boehm, L. (1989). The generality of the relation between familiarity and judged validity. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, Z, 81-94.
4.
Arkes, H. R. , Xu, G., & Boehm, L. (1988, April). The determinants of judged validity. Paper presented at the meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.
5.
Bacon, F. T. (1979). Credibility of repeated statements: Memory for trivia. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 5, 241-252.
6.
Baron, R. M. , & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182.
7.
Begg, I. , Armour, V., & Kerr, T. (1985). On believing what we remember. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 17, 199-214.
8.
Bransford, J. D. , & Johnson, M. K. (1973). Considerations of some problems of comprehension. In W. G. Chase (Ed.), Visual information processing. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
9.
Cacioppo, J. T. , & Petty, R. E. (1982). The need for cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 116-131.
10.
Cacioppo, J. T. , Petty, R. E., & Morris, K. T. (1983). Effects of need for cognition on message evaluation, recall, and persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 805-818.
11.
Chi, M. , Feltovich, P., & Glaser, R. (1982). Categorization in experts and novices. In R. Sternberg (Ed.), The handbook of intelligence. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
12.
Chiesi, H. L. , Spilich, G. J., & Voss, J. F. (1979). Acquisition of domain-related information in relation to high and low domain knowledge. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18, 257-273.
13.
Clark, H. H. (1973). The language-as-fixed-effect fallacy: A critique of language statistics in psychological research. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 12, 335-359.
14.
Gigerenzer, G. (1984). External validity of laboratory experiments: The frequency-validity relationship. American Journal of Psychology, 97, 185-195.
15.
Hasher, L. , Goldstein, D., & Toppino, T. (1977). Frequency and the conference of referential validity. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 16, 107-112.
16.
Jacoby, L. L. , & Dallas, M. (1981). On the relationship between autobiographical memory and perceptual learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General110, 306-340.
17.
Johnson, E. J. , & Russo, J. E. (1984). Product familiarity and learning new information. Journal of Consumer Research, 11, 542-550.
18.
McKoon, G. , & Ratcliff, R. (1981). The comprehension processes and memory structures involved in instrumental inference. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 20, 671-682.
19.
Morris, P. E. , Tweedy, M., & Gruneberg, M. M. (1985). Interest, knowledge and the memorizing of soccer scores. British Journal of Psychology, 76, 415-425.
20.
Mynatt, C. R. , Doherty, M. E., & Tweney, R. D. (1978). Consequences of confirmation and disconfirmation in a simulated research environment. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 30, 395-406.
21.
Ohta, N. (1984). The source of long-term retention of priming effects. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 7, 249-250.
22.
Petty, R. E. , & Cacioppo, J. T. (1984). The effects of involvement on responses to argument quantity and quality: Central and peripheral routes to persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 69-81.
23.
Richter, M. L. , & Seay, M. B. (1987). ANOVA designs with subjects and stimuli as random effects: Applications to prototype effects on recognition memory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 470-480.
24.
Robinson, G. M. (1984). Truth assessment: Converging operations and repetition enhancement. Unpublished manuscript, Smith College.
25.
Roediger, H. L. , Weldon, M. S., Stadler, M. L., & Riegler, G. L. (1992). Direct comparison of two implicit memory tests: Word fragment and word stem completion. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 18, 1251-1269.
26.
Schacter, D. L. , Harbluk, J. L., & McLachlan, D. R. (1984). Retrieval without recollection: An experimental analysis of source amnesia. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 23, 593-611.
27.
Schwartz, M. (1982). Repetition and rated truth value of statements. American Journal of Psychology, 95, 393-407.
28.
Spilich, G. J. , Vesonder, G. T., Chiesi, H. L., & Voss, J. F. (1979). Text processing of domain related information for individuals high and low in domain knowledge. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 118, 275-290.
29.
Squire, L. R. , Shimamura, A. D., & Graf, P. (1985). Independence of recognition memory and priming effects: A neuropsychological analysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory, and Cognition, 11, 37-44.
30.
Sulin, R. A. , & Dooling, D. J. (1974). Intrusion of a thematic idea in retention of prose. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 103, 255-262.
31.
Tetlock, P. E. (1983). Accountability and complexity of thought. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 74-83.
32.
Tetlock, P. E. , & Kim, J. I. (1987). Accountability and judgment processes in a personality prediction task. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 700-709.
33.
Tulving, E. , Schacter, D. L., & Stark, H. A. (1982). Priming effects in word-fragment completion are independent of recognition memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 8, 336-342.
34.
Tversky, A. , & Kahneman, D. (1973). Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability. Cognitive Psychology, 5, 207-232.
35.
Wason, P. C. (1960). On the failure to eliminate hypotheses in a conceptual task. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 12, 129-140.
36.
Wickens, T. D. , & Keppel, G. (1983). On the choice of design and of test statistic in the analysis of experiments with sampled materials. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 22, 296-309.
37.
Williams, K. W. , & Durso, F. T. (1986). Subsets of real world knowledge. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 24, 401-403.
