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An experiment on information integration
Abstract
This experiment is about the merging of information from disparate sources. Two theories of
information integration were tested in a single participant 3x3 factorial experiment. And also
possible hypothesis that different pieces of information have an effect on each other when
combined to form an impression.
Introduction
There are two theories about information integration one is the addictive and another is the
theory called multiplicative (e.g. Anderson,1971 and Birnbaum, 1971). The addictive theory
consider that each piece of information is added together to form a concept. Also this theory
considers that each piece of information does not affect each other. The multiplicative theory
explains that each piece of information relate to each other and affects each other to form a
concept.
Method
This was a single participant experiment. The material was a list of 45 pairs of words. One word
was a profession and one word was adjective description of that profession. This was a 3x3
factorial design with three levels of personality information three level of profession information.
Each level of personality information was classified in Positive (P), Moderate (M) and Negative
(N). There were three professions: Doctor (D), Teacher (T), Thief (Th). The participant rated his
impression from 1 to 10 if he thought highly (10) or poorly (1) about each pair of word. There
were 45 trials. The independent variable was the different types of information. And the
dependent variable was the impression from the participant about the pair of words.
Results
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The average impression for each profession was: Doctor 5.6, Teacher 5.2 and Thief 2.2. The
average for Positive Personality for Doctor was 10. The average for Positive Personality for
Teacher was 9.6. The average Positive Personality for Thief was 2.6. The average Moderate
Personality for Doctor was 4.8. The average Moderate Personality for Teacher was 3.8. The
average for Moderate Personality for Thief was 2.2. And the average for Negative personality for
each profession was: Doctor 2.2, Teacher 2.2 and Thief 1.8. There was a main effect of
personality information. The results are shown in the Figure 1 Impression rating as a function of
Personality and profession information shows that there was a interaction.
Figure 1. Impression rating as a function of Personality and profession information
Discussion
109.6
2.6
4.8
3.8
2.22.2 2.21.8
0
1
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5
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10
P M N
D
T
Th
Personality Information
Impression rating vs. Personality information
Impression
Rating
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It was found that there was an interaction and there was an effect of personality information on
impression ratings. The impression ratings depend on the type of profession supporting the
multiplicative theory of information integration.
References
Andreson, N. H. (1971) Integration Theory and Attitude Change.Psychological Review, 78, 171-
206.
Birnbaum, M. H., Parducci, A., & Gifford, R. K. (1971). Contextual effects in information
integration.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 88, 158-170.