Abstract
Impression certainty is higher when the impression is based on a large compared to a small amount of information. Because set size, impression extremity, and certainty have been completely confounded in past research, it has been impossible to determine whether the certainty results have been due to the direct cue effects of set size or to the extremity of the overall impression. Extremity effects are shown to significantly affect certainty when set size and semantic content are held constant.
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The research was supported by NSF Grant GS-38604. Facilities for data analysis were provided by the Computer Centers at Ohio State University and Washington State University.
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Lee, A.G., Ostrom, T.M. Set size and impression certainty: Cue vs. extremity explanations. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 8, 371–373 (1976). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335170
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335170