9/18/07 WEEK 4: IMAGINING AND AVAILABILITY

Discussion Leader: Rosanna

Overview
Garry, M., & Polaschek, D. L. L. (2000). Imagination and memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9, 6-10.

An Application and a Potential Explanation
Gregory, W. L., Cialdini, R. B., & Carpenter, K. (1982).  Self-relevant scenarios as mediators of likelihood estimates and compliance.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43,  89-99.

A Central Qualification
Sherman, S. J., Cialdini, R. B., Schwartzman, D. F., & Reynolds, K. (1985).  Imagining can heighten or lower the perceived likelihood of contracting a disease.  Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 11, 118-127.

A De-biasing Procedure?
Schwarz, N., Bless, H, Strack, F., Klumpp, G, Rittenauer-Schatka, & Simons, A. (1991).  Ease of retrieval as information:  Another look at the availability heuristic.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 195-202.

Daily Show Clip "Summer of the Shark" illustrating the availability heuristic.

In reading these papers, consider the following questions and be ready to discuss them in class:

1. Imagining an event appears to increase the perceived likelihood of the event as well as congruent behaviors.  Can you think of other theoretical accounts--besides availability--that would explain this effect?

2.  Have you seen advertisers or other influence professionals use the imagination tactic?  How?  Do they use it widely and often?

3.  Have you seen such influence professionals use other variants of the availability principle?  How?

4.  How might the medium by which a message is communicated moderate the impact of the availability principle?

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