The role of perceptual disfluency in perceptions of similarity: Basic effects and social consequence
(2014) 17th General Meeting of the European Association of Social Psychology — Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands (9.July.2014)
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- Abstract
- Experiences of disflueny have been found to increase estimations of spatial and conceptual distance (Alter & Oppenheimer, 2009; Oppenheimer & Frank, 2008). This research tested similar effects of both target-related and -unrelated perceptual disfluency experiences (i.e., blurred faces or difficult to read fonts) on social distance. Compared to experiences of fluency, experiences of perceptual disfluency produced perceptions of greater self-other dissimilarity on explicit judgments (Experiment 1) and perceptions of greater self-other distance on rather indirect judgments (i.e., self vs. other ratings of various preferences; Experiment 2). Further studies considered behavioral indicators of self-other distance and (dis)similarity perceptions. In line with research showing decreased resource-allocation to and informational conformity with dissimilar and distant others (e.g., Brock, 1965; Stephan et al., 2011), when experiencing perceptual disfluency rather than fluency participants allocated fewer resources to various social targets (Experiment 3) and they also demonstrated less informational conformity with peers (Experiment 4). Finally, recent research demonstrated that people show a preference for using words (vs. pictures) when communicating with socially distal (vs. proximal) others (Amit et al., 2013). Similarly, participants experiencing disfluency (vs. fluency) preferred a verbal communication medium, indicating social distance, to a pictorial communication medium, indicating social proximity, when choosing means for averagely distal others (Experiment 5). Across studies effects were not mediated by mood, task-enjoyment, or task-difficulty. Disfluency thus impacted social distance and similarity perceptions in similar ways as other dimensions of psychological distance. This research sheds light on how social distance can be exacerbated by a previously unaddressed psychological factor.
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Woltin, K.-A., Corneille, O., & Yzerbyt, V. (2014). The role of perceptual disfluency in perceptions of similarity: Basic effects and social consequence. 17th General Meeting of the European Association of Social Psychology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/167758