SEQUENTIAL EFFECTS AS A FUNCTION OF EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT INTERPOLATED ATTRACTION RESPONSES

Attraction may be conceptualized as a form of information processing in which attraction at any point in the informational sequence varies as a function of the proportion of similar attitudes in the preceding series. In Exp. I, 24 attitude statements constituting .50 similarity were presented in 3 different sequences with responses obtained after each statement. Unexpectedly, a recency effect was found. In Exp. II, it was hypothesized and confirmed that recency effects occur only when attraction responses are interpolated in the attitude sequence. It was found that Ss respond to the proportion of similar attitudes presented since their last attraction response. In Exp. III, it was hypothesized and confirmed that the interpolation of implicit attraction responses (instructions to think about a response after each stimulus) also yields significant recency effects. It was proposed that the explicit or implicit symbolization of evaluative responses results in the tendency to discount previous information so that later evaluations are based on later information. (33 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.