Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants
Balanced evidence processing: Evidence-based and affect-based subjects process scientific texts differently
Department
Psychology
College
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Date Range
2010-2011
Abstract
We examine comprehension of scientific information as a function of subjects' beliefs and why they hold them (evidence-based vs. affect-based.) In Experiment 1, subjects read texts one sentence at a time that were consistent or inconsistent with beliefs. Evidence-based (but not affect-based) subjects slowed down for specific sentences that were inconsistent with the main position of the text. In Experiment 2, subjects read a one-sided and a neutral text, then wrote a summary of the neutral text. Evidence-based subjects wrote more neutral summaries. Both experiments suggest evidence-based subjects engage in what we refer to as balanced evidence processing.
Conference Name
Conference of the Society for Text and Discourse
Conference Location
Chicago, IL
ScholarWorks Citation
Wolfe, Michael; Taylor, Shawna; Taylor, Andrew; and Austin, Gabrielle, "Balanced evidence processing: Evidence-based and affect-based subjects process scientific texts differently" (2010). Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants. 78.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg/78
