Henning Plessner

I Like it but I Don’t Know Why: A Value-Account Approach to Implicit Attitude Formation

The authors suggest a theory that predicts how summary evaluations about targets are implicitly formed and stored in memory and under which conditions they are used in attitude judgment. First, it is assumed that the mere encoding of value-charged stimuli is a sufficient condition to initiate implicit online formation of summary evaluations. Second, the authors claim that this process is summative. Accordingly, the intensities of the positive or negative responses evoked by the stimuli in the organism are thought to be accumulated and stored in a unitary memory structure. This hypothetical structure is called value account. Third, it is assumed that a value account is more easily accessible in memory than are concrete traces of past experiences. Therefore, attitude judgments should rely on value accounts, especially if cognitive capacities are constrained (e.g., due to time pressure). Three experiments that provide converging evidence for the value-account approach are reported.

Olympic Medals as Fruits of Comparison? Assimilation and Contrast in Sequential Performance Judgments

The authors investigated the evaluative consequences of sequential performance judgments. Recent social comparison research has suggested that performance judgments may be influenced by judgments about a preceding performance. Specifically, performance judgments may be assimilated to judgments of the preceding performance if judges focus on similarities between the two. If judges focus on differences, however, contrast may ensue. The authors examined sequential performance judgments, using data gathered from the 2004 Olympic Games as well as data gathered in the laboratory with students or experienced gymnastics judges as participants. Sequential performance judgments were influenced by previously judged performances, and the direction of this influence depended on the degree of perceived similarity between the successive performances.

A Video-Based Training Method for Improving Soccer Referees’ Intuitive Decision-Making Skills

We present a video-based online training-tool (SET, for Schiedsrichter-Entscheidungs-Training, in German) for improving soccer referees’ decisions. We assume that referees’ decision-making in contact situations mainly relies on intuitive processing. For improving intuitive decisions, feedback on the correctness of decisions is essential; explanations are not required (Hogarth, 2008). Referees participating in SET watch videos, make decisions, and receive feedback. Evidence of the trainings effectiveness was obtained in two experiments with soccer players and expert referees. Immediate feedback on the correctness of decisions without further explanations was sufficient for increasing decision accuracy. Results illustrate that SET is a promising tool for complementing referees’ training.

A multiple-cue learning approach as the basis for understanding and improving soccer referees' decision making.

A significant proportion of all referee decisions during a soccer match are about fouls and misconduct. We argue that most of these decisions can be considered as a perceptual-categorization task in which the referee has to categorize a set of features into two discrete classes (foul/no-foul). Due to the dynamic nature of tackling situations in football, these features share a probabilistic rather that a deterministic relationship with the decision criteria. Accordingly, these processes can be studied on the basis of a multiple-cue learning framework as proposed by Brunswick (1955), which focuses among others on how people learn from repeated exposure to probabilistic information. Such learning processes have been studied on a wide range of tasks, but until now not (to our knowledge) in the area of judging sport performance. We suggest that decision accuracy of referees can be improved by creating a learning environment that fits the requirements of this theoretical perspective.

Refereeing in Sports is Supposed to be a Craft, Not an Art: Response to Mascarenhas, Collins, and Mortimer (2002)

In their comments on a study on penalty decisions in soccer (Plessner & Betsch, 2001), Mascarenhas, Collins, and Mortimer (2002) point to several factors that, in their view, weaken the external validity of this laboratory study. In our response, we argue that although it may be helpful to substantiate the prior findings in a study closer to the natural setting of refereeing, Mascarenhas et al. provide no conclusive argument as to why the observed judgment biases should vanish under more realistic conditions.

Intuition beyond recognition: when less familiar events are liked more.

In a laboratory experiment, we compare the relative impact of two possible determinants of intuitive evaluative judgments: ease of recognition and total value of prior encounters with a target. Participants encode daily return values of shares on the stock market while watching videotaped ads on the computer screen. This dual-task procedure ensures that participants subsequently lack relevant event memories and thus have to rely on their intuition when evaluating the targets. In the presentation, the share appearing least frequently produced the highest sum of returns. In contrast, the share appearing most frequently produced the lowest sum of returns. Evaluative judgments reveal a preference for the share with the highest sum of returns, although, as evident from recognition latencies, it was the one that was more difficult to recognize. The results provide evidence for the value-account model of implicit attitude formation (Betsch, Plessner, Schwieren, & Gütig, 2001), which predicts that intuitive evaluative judgments reflect the total value of prior encounters.

Zur Erklärungskraft der "Regulatory Focus" Theorie im Sport

Zusammenfassung. Die „Regulatory Focus” Theorie (RFT) von Higgins (1997, 2000) unterscheidet zwei Arten der Selbstregulation beim Anstreben eines erwunschten Endzustands, den Promotion-Fokus (z. B. liegt der Fokus auf Erfullung und Hoffnung) und den Prevention-Fokus (z. B. liegt der Fokus auf Sicherheit und Verantwortung). Des Weiteren postuliert sie einen Leistungsvorteil, wenn eine Person in eine Situation kommt, die ihrem chronisch bevorzugten Fokus entspricht („Regulatory Fit”). Entsprechend konnten Plessner, et al. (2009) in einer Studie zum Elfmeterschiesen im Fusball – einer vermeintlichen Prevention-Aufgabe – zeigen, dass Spieler von einem „Regulatory Fit” profitieren. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde die Gultigkeit dieses Effekts fur weitere Anforderungen im Sport untersucht. In Studie 1 konnte gezeigt werden, dass sich Aufgaben im Sport tatsachlich per se danach unterscheiden lassen, ob sie eher einen Prevention-Fokus (z. B. Elfmeter im Fusball) oder einen Promotion-Fokus (z. B. 3-Punkte-Wurf im...

Attitude MeasurementUsing the ImplicitAssociation Test (IAT)

Abstract. Three years ago, Greenwald, McGhee, and Schwartz (1998) presented a new method to measure differential evaluative association of two target concepts: the Implicit Association Test (IAT). It has been asserted that the IAT allows for the assessment of implicit attitudes by comparing response times in two combined discrimination tasks. Although the distribution and employment of this method has been quite successful, the processes underlying IAT-effects, as well as the psychometric properties of specific IAT-variants, have received relatively little attention up to now. The articles included in the present special issue especially focus on these aspects.

Fußball verstehen - Beiträge der Sozialpsychologie

Zusammenfassung: Mit der Fusballweltmeisterschaft 2006 in Deutschland werden erneut einige Problemfelder des Fusballs, die im Kern psychologischer Natur sind, eine erhohte offentliche Aufmerksamkeit erzeugen. Dazu zahlen unter anderem die Frage nach dem Heimvorteil des ausrichtenden Verbandes, die Fehleranfalligkeit von Schiedsrichterentscheidungen und die Gefahr von Zuschauerausschreitungen. Anhand eines Uberblicks uber empirische Arbeiten zu diesen ausgewahlten Themenbereichen wird deutlich gemacht, dass es insbesondere Beitrage mit sozialpsychologischem Hintergrund sind, die es ermoglichen, zu entsprechenden Fragestellungen fundiert Stellung zu beziehen und Ansatze fur Problemlosungen zu erarbeiten. Daruber hinaus wird aufgezeigt, dass der Fusballsport unter Umstanden ein besonders gunstiges Anwendungsfeld zur Uberprufung sozialpsychologischer Theorien bietet.

Gaze Behavior of Gymnastics Judges: Where Do Experienced Judges and Gymnasts Look While Judging?

ABSTRACT Gymnastics judges and former gymnasts have been shown to be quite accurate in detecting errors and accurately judging performance. Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to examine if this superior judging performance is reflected in judges’ gaze behavior. Method: Thirty-five judges were asked to judge 21 gymnasts who performed a skill on the vault in a video-based test. Classifying 1 sample on 2 different criteria, judging performance and gaze behavior were compared between judges with a higher license level and judges with a lower license level and between judges who were able to perform the skill (specific motor experience [SME]) and those who were not. Results: The results revealed better judging performance among judges with a higher license level compared with judges with a lower license level and more fixations on the gymnast during the whole skill and the landing phase, specifically on the head and arms of the gymnast. Specific motor experience did not result in any differences in judging performance; however, judges with SME showed similar gaze patterns to those of judges with a high license level, with 1 difference in their increased focus on the gymnasts’ feet. Conclusion: Superior judging performance seems to be reflected in a specific gaze behavior. This gaze behavior appears to partly stem from judges’ own sensorimotor experiences for this skill and reflects the gymnasts’ perspective onto the skill.