Uninformative Photos Can Increase People's Perceived Knowledge of Complicated Processes
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
To what extent can photos influence people's evaluations of their own knowledge? For example, can photos affect how well people think they understand processes? To answer this question, in six experiments we asked people to indicate how well they understood various processes (such as how rainbows form). Sometimes the processes that were described appeared after a related photo (such as a photo of a rainbow) whereas other times the processes appeared alone. People tended to report that they understood processes that appeared with photos better than processes that appeared alone. This pattern fits with the idea that photos make it easier to generate relevant thoughts and images—an experience people tend to interpret as evidence that they know or understand related information.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 244-252 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of applied research in memory and cognition : JARMAC |
Volume | 6 |
Issue number | 3 |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2017 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- Cognitive fluency, Knowledge, Metacognition, Photos, Understanding