Item Details

title

BEYOND FIRST IMPRESSIONS: TESTING A METACOGNITIVE STRATEGY TO ENHANCE INFORMATION-SEEKING AND IMPRESSION-FORMATION ACCURACY

author

Wang, Enhui

abstract

The present study investigates a metacognitive strategy to reduce inadequate information sampling during impression formation. Drawing from the Illusion of Explanatory Depth (IoED), participants were randomly assigned to either a metacognitive or control task to examine how awareness of limited knowledge influences information-seeking behavior and prediction accuracy. Motivation was also manipulated to assess its interaction with metacognition. Participants evaluated “Square-Head” candidates in a novel social decision-making task. Results showed that while the IoED task effectively reduced perceived knowledge, it did not significantly increase information-seeking or reduce prediction error. However, greater self-reported motivation predicted greater information-seeking behavior, which in turn was associated with significantly less prediction error. These findings suggest that while metacognitive awareness alone did not prompt information-seeking, self-reported motivation promotes information-seeking behavior. The study emphasizes the importance of having adequate sampling strategies in real-world contexts to reduce errors in impression formation.

subject

bias

impression formation

inadequate sampling

stereotype

contributor

Petrocelli, John (advisor)

Stone, Eric (committee member)

Friedman, Jacquline (committee member)

Brady, Shannon (committee member)

date

2025-06-24T08:36:28Z (accessioned)

2025-06-24T08:36:28Z (available)

2025 (issued)

degree

Psychology (discipline)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/111005 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

type

Thesis