Mental contamination and mental correction: Unwanted influences on judgments and evaluations.

Wilson, Timothy D.; Brekke, Nancy

doi:10.1037/0033-2909.116.1.117

Cited by 1,157Decision-Making and Behavioral EconomicsSocial and Intergroup PsychologyMemory Processes and Influences

Mental contamination and mental correction: Unwanted influences on judgments and evaluations.

Wilson, Timothy D., Brekke, Nancy·1994·Psychological Bulletin

DOI 10.1037/0033-2909.116.1.117

Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

We define mental contamination as the process whereby a person has an unwanted response because of mental processing that is unconscious or uncontrollable. This type of bias is distinguishable from the failure to know or apply normative rules of inference and can be further divided into the unwanted consequences of automatic processing and source confusion, which is the confusion of 2 or more causes of a response. Mental contamination is difficult to avoid because it results from both fundamental properties of human cognition (e.g., a lack of awareness of mental processes) and faulty lay beliefs about the mind (e.g., incorrect theories about mental biases). People's lay beliefs determine the steps they take (or fail to take) to correct their judgments and thus are an important but neglected source of biased responses. Strategies for avoiding contamination, such as controlling one's exposure to biasing information, are discussed.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/0033-2909.116.1.117

Cites

168 of 168 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

The extent to which people have introspective access to psychological processes has been disputed.
“the extent to which people have introspective access to psychological processes has been disputed”
From Unawareness of Attitudes, Their Environmental Causes, and Their Behavioral Effects (2025) · cites this paper as Wilson & Brekke 1994
The cognitive processes that engender psychological biases are thought to be nonconscious and inaccessible to introspection.
“The cognitive processes that engender psychological biases are thought to be nonconscious and, as such, inaccessible to introspection (Wilson & Brekke, 1994; Wilson et al., 2002).”
From Everyone I Don’t Like Is Biased: Affective Evaluations and the Bias Blind Spot (2026) · cites this paper as Wilson & Brekke, 1994
The cognitive processes that produce many psychological biases are inaccessible to introspection.
“Given that the cognitive processes that produce many psychological biases are inaccessible to introspection (Wilson & Brekke, 1994; Wilson et al., 2002)”
From Everyone I Don’t Like Is Biased: Affective Evaluations and the Bias Blind Spot (2026) · cites this paper as Wilson & Brekke, 1994

Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1975) · Utility, Probability, and Human Decision Making · doi:10.1007/978-94-010-1834-0_8 · Cited by 22,650 · see citing works
Harvard Business Review
Armstrong, J. S., & Georgoff, D. M. (1988) · International Journal of Forecasting · doi:10.1016/0169-2070(88)90019-2 · Cited by 18,339 · see citing works
A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
Morvan, C., & O’Connor, A. (2017) · Macat Library eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781912282432 · Cited by 18,284 · see citing works
Untitled work
(1954) · Cited by 15,935 · see citing works
Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes.
Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.84.3.231 · Cited by 11,317 · see citing works
Self-citation
Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive–developmental inquiry
Flavell, J. H. (1979) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.34.10.906 · Cited by 11,282 · see citing works
Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect.
Higgins, E. T. (1987) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.94.3.319 · Cited by 7,219 · see citing works
Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state.
Schachter, S., & Singer, J. (1962) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/h0046234 · Cited by 6,223 · see citing works
Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components
Devine, P. G. (1989) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.56.1.5 · Cited by 5,673 · see citing works
Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases.
Shafer, G. R., Kahnerman, D., Slovic, P., & Tversky, A. (1984) · Journal of the American Statistical Association · doi:10.2307/2288362 · Cited by 5,658 · see citing works
Communication and Persuasion: Central and Peripheral Routes to Attitude Change
Marquart, F., & Naderer, B. (2015) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-09923-7_20 · Cited by 5,007 · see citing works
Unrealistic optimism about future life events
Weinstein, N. D. (1980) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.39.5.806 · Cited by 4,999 · see citing works
Mood, misattribution, and judgments of well-being: Informative and directive functions of affective states.
Schwarz, N., & Clore, G. L. (1983) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.45.3.513 · Cited by 4,952 · see citing works
Untitled work
Ericsson (1993) · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.87.3.215 · Cited by 4,539 · see citing works
Fact, Fiction, and Forecast.
Madden, E. H., Goodman, N., & van Melsen, A. G. (1955) · Philosophy and Phenomenological Research · doi:10.2307/2103789 · Cited by 4,398 · see citing works
Handbook of Social Cognition
Wyer, R. S., & Srull, T. K. (2014) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315807102 · Cited by 4,211 · see citing works
Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment.
Cherniak, C., Nisbett, R. E., & Ross, L. D. (1983) · The Philosophical Review · doi:10.2307/2184495 · Cited by 4,196 · see citing works
The Intuitive Psychologist And His Shortcomings: Distortions in the Attribution Process
Ross, L. (1977) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60357-3 · Cited by 4,170 · see citing works
Principles of Categorization
(2002) · The MIT Press eBooks · doi:10.7551/mitpress/3080.003.0017 · Cited by 3,974 · see citing works
Review of personality and social psychology
Wheeler, L. S., & Shaver, P. R. (1980) · UMI Books on Demand · Cited by 3,593 · see citing works
Toward an instance theory of automatization.
Logan, G. D. (1988) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.95.4.492 · Cited by 3,466 · see citing works
A Continuum of Impression Formation, from Category-Based to Individuating Processes: Influences of Information and Motivation on Attention and Interpretation
Fiske, S. T., & Neuberg, S. L. (1990) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60317-2 · Cited by 3,367 · see citing works
The “false consensus effect”: An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes
Ross, L., Greene, D., & House, P. (1977) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/0022-1031(77)90049-x · Cited by 3,139 · see citing works
Cognition and Categorization
Rosch, E. H., & Lloyd, B. (2024) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781032633275 · Cited by 2,865 · see citing works
Book Review Nisbett, R. , & Ross, L.Human inference: Strategies and shortcomings of social judgment.Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1980.
Miller, G. A., & Cantor, N. E. (1982) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.1982.1.1.83 · Cited by 2,862 · see citing works
Categories and Concepts
Smith, E. E., & Medin, D. L. (1981) · Harvard University Press eBooks · doi:10.4159/harvard.9780674866270 · Cited by 2,653 · see citing works
Ironic processes of mental control.
Wegner, D. M. (1994) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037//0033-295x.101.1.34 · Cited by 2,609 · see citing works
The psychology of sunk cost
Arkes, H. R., & Blumer, C. (1985) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/0749-5978(85)90049-4 · Cited by 2,573 · see citing works
The person and the situation: perspectives of social psychology
(1992) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.29-3604 · Cited by 2,205 · see citing works
The halo effect: Evidence for unconscious alteration of judgments.
Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.35.4.250 · Cited by 2,021 · see citing works
Self-citation
New directions in attribution research
Harvey, J. H., Ickes, W. J., & Kidd, R. F. (1976) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 1,996 · see citing works
Handbook of Motivation and Cognition: Foundations of Social Behavior, Vol. 2.
Wagner, D. G., Higgins, E. T., & Sorrentino, R. M. (1991) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.2307/2072281 · Cited by 1,970 · see citing works
Behavioral Decision Theory: Processes of Judgement and Choice
Einhorn, H. J., & Hogarth, R. M. (1981) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.ps.32.020181.000413 · Cited by 1,691 · see citing works
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Mishan, E. J., & Quah, E. (2020) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781351029780 · Cited by 1,540 · see citing works
The role of category accessibility in the interpretation of information about persons: Some determinants and implications.
Srull, T. K., & Wyer, R. S. (1979) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.37.10.1660 · Cited by 1,529 · see citing works
How mental systems believe.
Gilbert, D. T. (1991) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.46.2.107 · Cited by 1,526 · see citing works
Category accessibility and impression formation
Higgins, E. T., Rholes, W. S., & Jones, C. R. (1977) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0022-1031(77)80007-3 · Cited by 1,502 · see citing works
Pragmatic reasoning schemas
Cheng, P. W., & Holyoak, K. J. (1985) · Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1016/0010-0285(85)90014-3 · Cited by 1,463 · see citing works
Positive Affect, Cognitive Processes, and Social Behavior
Isen, A. M. (1987) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60415-3 · Cited by 1,443 · see citing works
The Cognitive Unconscious
Kihlstrom, J. F. (1987) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.3629249 · Cited by 1,405 · see citing works
A dual process model of impression formation.
Brewer, M. B. (1988) · Cited by 1,345 · see citing works
The trouble of thinking: Activation and application of stereotypic beliefs.
Gilbert, D. T., & Hixon, J. G. (1991) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.60.4.509 · Cited by 1,308 · see citing works
Can human irrationality be experimentally demonstrated?
Cohen, L. J. (1981) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00009092 · Cited by 1,224 · see citing works
Confidence in judgment: persistence of the illusion of validity
Einhorn, H. J., & Hogarth, R. M. (1978) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.85.5.395 · Cited by 1,209 · see citing works
Intuitive prediction: Biases and corrective procedures
Kahneman, D. J., & Tversky, A. (1982) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511809477.031 · Cited by 1,162 · see citing works
Concepts and conceptual structure.
Medin, D. L. (1989) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.44.12.1469 · Cited by 1,157 · see citing works
Toward an ecological theory of social perception.
Zebrowitz, L. A., & Baron, R. M. (1983) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.90.3.215 · Cited by 1,083 · see citing works
Perseverance in self-perception and social perception: Biased attributional processes in the debriefing paradigm.
Ross, L. D., Lepper, M. R., & HUBBARD, M. L. (1975) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.32.5.880 · Cited by 1,052 · see citing works
Perseverance in self-perception and social perception: Biased attributional processes in the debriefing paradigm.
Ross, L., Lepper, M. R., & Hubbard, M. (1975) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.32.5.880 · Cited by 1,052 · see citing works
Illusory correlation as an obstacle to the use of valid psychodiagnostic signs.
Chapman, L. J., & Chapman, J. P. (1969) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0027592 · Cited by 1,008 · see citing works
How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life
Gilovich, T. D. (1991) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 1,005 · see citing works
Conditional automaticity: Varieties of automatic influence in social perception and cognition.
Bargh, J. A. (1989) · Cited by 975 · see citing works
Cognitive Development: Foundational Theories Of Core Domains
Wellman, H. M., & Gelman, S. A. (1992) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.ps.43.020192.002005 · Cited by 961 · see citing works
Person memory and judgment.
Srull, T. K., & Wyer, R. S. (1989) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.96.1.58 · Cited by 943 · see citing works
The Construction of Social Judgments
Martin, L. L. (2013) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203772874 · Cited by 939 · see citing works
Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety
Dutton, D. G., & Aron, A. P. (1974) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0037031 · Cited by 934 · see citing works
Unrealistic optimism about susceptibility to health problems
Weinstein, N. D. (1982) · Journal of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/bf00845372 · Cited by 911 · see citing works
Errors and mistakes: Evaluating the accuracy of social judgment.
Funder, D. C. (1987) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.101.1.75 · Cited by 869 · see citing works
The Probable and The Provable
Cohen, L. J. (1977) · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198244127.001.0001 · Cited by 867 · see citing works
Genesis of popular but erroneous psychodiagnostic observations.
Chapman, L. J., & Chapman, J. P. (1967) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0024670 · Cited by 863 · see citing works
The will to believe and other essays in popular philosophy.
James, W. (1907) · Longmans, Green and Co eBooks · doi:10.1037/11061-000 · Cited by 855 · see citing works
Recent Research on Selective Exposure to Information
Frey, D. (1986) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60212-9 · Cited by 820 · see citing works
The use of statistical heuristics in everyday inductive reasoning
Nisbett, R., Krantz, D., Jepson, C., & Kunda, Z. (1983) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.90.4.339 · Cited by 802 · see citing works
Lay epistemics and human knowledge cognitive and motivational bases
Kruglanski, A. W. (1989) · Cited by 780 · see citing works
Accountability: A Social Check on the Fundamental Attribution Error
Tetlock, P. E. (1985) · Social Psychology Quarterly · doi:10.2307/3033683 · Cited by 777 · see citing works
Costs and benefits of judgment errors: Implications for debiasing.
Arkes, H. R. (1991) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.110.3.486 · Cited by 764 · see citing works
Perseverance of Social Theories: The Role of Explanation in the Persistence of Discredited Information
Anderson, C., Lepper, M. R., & Ross, L. (1980) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0077720 · Cited by 684 · see citing works
Memory and Cognition in Its Social Context
Wyer, J. R. S., & Srull, T. K. (2014) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315807591 · Cited by 660 · see citing works
To be adored or to be known? The interplay of self-enhancement and self-verification.
Swann, & William, B. G. (1990) · Cited by 613 · see citing works
The effects of statistical training on thinking about everyday problems
Fong, G. T., Krantz, D. H., & Nisbett, R. E. (1986) · Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1016/0010-0285(86)90001-0 · Cited by 597 · see citing works
Auto-motives: Preconscious determinants of social interaction.
Bargh, J. A. (1990) · Cited by 596 · see citing works
Becoming famous without being recognized: Unconscious influences of memory produced by dividing attention.
Jacoby, L. L., Woloshyn, V. E., & Kelley, C. (1989) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037/0096-3445.118.2.115 · Cited by 591 · see citing works
Assimilation and contrast as a function of people's willingness and ability to expend effort in forming an impression.
Martin, L. L., Seta, J. J., & Crelia, R. A. (1990) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.59.1.27 · Cited by 494 · see citing works
Pragmatic versus syntactic approaches to training deductive reasoning
Cheng, P. W., Holyoak, K. J., Nisbett, R. E., & Oliver, L. M. (1986) · Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1016/0010-0285(86)90002-2 · Cited by 488 · see citing works
Personality, Cognition and Social Interaction
Cantor, N. L., & Kihlstrom, J. F. (2017) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315528816 · Cited by 485 · see citing works
Constructing reality and its alternatives: an inclusion/ exclusion model of assimilation and contrast effects in social judgment
Schwarz, N., & Bless, H. (1992) · Social Science Open Access Repository (GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences) · Cited by 482 · see citing works
The fragmentation of reason
Stich, S. (1990) · Cited by 466 · see citing works
Quest for accuracy in person perception: A matter of pragmatics.
Swann, W. B. (1984) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.91.4.457 · Cited by 458 · see citing works
Beauty is talent: Task evaluation as a function of the performer's physical attractiveness.
Landy, D., & Sigall, H. (1974) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0036018 · Cited by 450 · see citing works
Emotion and Social Judgments
(2020) · Garland Science eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781003058731 · Cited by 438 · see citing works
The Schachter theory of emotion: Two decades later.
Reisenzein, R. (1983) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.94.2.239 · Cited by 418 · see citing works
Outcome dependency and attention to inconsistent information.
Erber, R., & Fiske, S. T. (1984) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.47.4.709 · Cited by 412 · see citing works
Perceived informativeness of facts.
Fischhoff, B. (1977) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance · doi:10.1037/0096-1523.3.2.349 · Cited by 404 · see citing works
The laws of sympathetic magic
Rozin, P. N., & Nemeroff, C. J. (1990) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139173728.006 · Cited by 382 · see citing works
The Role of Consciousness in Priming Effects on Categorization
Lombardi, W. J., Higgins, E. T., & Bargh, J. A. (1987) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167287133009 · Cited by 380 · see citing works
Prejudice, categorization and particularization: From a perceptual to a rhetorical approach
Billig, M. (1985) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.2420150107 · Cited by 379 · see citing works
Set/reset: Use and disuse of concepts in impression formation.
Martin, L. L. (1986) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.51.3.493 · Cited by 366 · see citing works
Introspection, Attitude Change, and Attitude-Behavior Consistency: the Disruptive Effects of Explaining Why we Feel the Way we Do
Wilson, T. D., Dunn, D. S., Kraft, D., & Lisle, D. J. (1989) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60311-1 · Cited by 361 · see citing works
Self-citation
Knowledge accessibility and activation: Subjectivity and suffering from unconscious sources.
Higgins, E. T. (1989) · Cited by 357 · see citing works
Cognitive manipulation of pain
Nisbett, R. E., & Schachter, S. (1966) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/0022-1031(66)90081-3 · Cited by 355 · see citing works
The effects of graduate training on reasoning: Formal discipline and thinking about everyday-life events.
Lehman, D. R., Lempert, R. O., & Nisbett, R. E. (1988) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.43.6.431 · Cited by 341 · see citing works
Nonconscious social information processing
Lewicki, P. (1986) · Cited by 337 · see citing works
Flexible Correction Processes in Social Judgment: Correcting for Context-Induced Contrast
Petty, R. E., & Wegener, D. T. (1993) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1006/jesp.1993.1007 · Cited by 306 · see citing works
Justification and the Psychology of Human Reasoning
Stich, S. P., & Nisbett, R. E. (1980) · Philosophy of Science · doi:10.1086/288928 · Cited by 296 · see citing works
White bears and other unwanted thoughts
Wegner, D. M. (1990) · Cited by 293 · see citing works
Base Rates in Bayesian Inference: Signal Detection Analysis of the Cab Problem
Birnbaum, M. H. (1983) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1422211 · Cited by 284 · see citing works
The Social Psychology of Knowledge
Bar‐Tal, D., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2010) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 283 · see citing works
Limits on perception of cognitive processes: A reply to Nisbett and Wilson.
Smith, E. R., & Miller, F. D. (1978) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.85.4.355 · Cited by 278 · see citing works
Teaching the Use of Cost-Benefit Reasoning in Everyday Life
Larrick, R. P., Morgan, J. N., & Nisbett, R. E. (1990) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1990.tb00243.x · Cited by 275 · see citing works
Unconscious Influences of Memory for a Prior Event
Jacoby, L. L., & Kelley, C. M. (1987) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167287133003 · Cited by 274 · see citing works
Attitudes as temporary constructions
Wilson, T. D., & Hodges, S. D. (1992) · Cited by 274 · see citing works
Self-citation
Affective consequences of inadequately explained physiological arousal.
Marshall, G. D., & Zimbardo, P. G. (1979) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.37.6.970 · Cited by 270 · see citing works
Forewarning, cognitive responding, and resistance to persuasion.
Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1977) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.35.9.645 · Cited by 270 · see citing works
Unconscious influences revealed: Attention, awareness, and control.
Jacoby, L. L., Lindsay, D. S., & Toth, J. P. (1992) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037//0003-066x.47.6.802 · Cited by 268 · see citing works
Effectiveness of Forewarning in Developing Resistance to Persuasion
McGuire, W. J., & Papageorgis, D. (1962) · Public Opinion Quarterly · doi:10.1086/267068 · Cited by 263 · see citing works
Negative emotional biasing of unexplained arousal.
Maslach, C. (1979) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.37.6.953 · Cited by 254 · see citing works
Metacognition : core readings
Nelson, T. O. (1992) · Allyn and Bacon eBooks · Cited by 253 · see citing works
Effects of Forwarning of Persuasive Intent and Involvement on Cognitive Responses and Persuasion
Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1979) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/014616727900500209 · Cited by 242 · see citing works
Does the Grist Change the Mill? The Effect of the Perceiver's Inferential Goal on the Process of Social Inference
Krull, D. S. (1993) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167293193011 · Cited by 237 · see citing works
The goal of forming accurate impressions during social interactions: Attenuating the impact of negative expectancies.
Neuberg, S. L. (1989) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.56.3.374 · Cited by 209 · see citing works
You can't always think what you want: Problems in the suppression of unwanted thoughts
Wegner, D. (1992) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60284-1 · Cited by 206 · see citing works
Pretrial publicity, judicial remedies, and jury bias.
Kramer, G. P., Kerr, N. L., & Carroll, J. S. (1990) · Law and Human Behavior · doi:10.1007/bf01044220 · Cited by 202 · see citing works
Incrimination through innuendo: Can media questions become public answers?
Wegner, D. M., Wenzlaff, R. M., Kerker, R. M., & Beattie, A. E. (1981) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.40.5.822 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
In search of reliable persuasion effects: III. The sleeper effect is dead: Long live the sleeper effect.
Pratkanis, A. R., Greenwald, A. G., Leippe, M. R., & Baumgardner, M. H. (1988) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.54.2.203 · Cited by 193 · see citing works
Psychology and the legal system
Wrightsman, L. S. (1987) · DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) · Cited by 192 · see citing works
Justice needs a new blindfold: A review of mock jury research.
Gerbasi, K. C., Zuckerman, M., & Reis, H. T. (1977) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.84.2.323 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
Getting the most out of advertising and promotion.
Abraham, M. M., & Lodish, L. M. (1990) · PubMed · Cited by 168 · see citing works
Effects of inadmissible Evidence on the Decisions of Simulated Jurors: A Moral Dilemma
Sue, S., Smith, R. E., & Caldwell, C. (1973) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.1973.tb02401.x · Cited by 152 · see citing works
The experience of boredom: The role of the self-perception of attention.
Damrad-Frye, R., & Laird, J. D. (1989) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.57.2.315 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
Immediate and delayed transfer of training effects in statistical reasoning.
Fong, G. T., & Nisbett, R. E. (1991) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037//0096-3445.120.1.34 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
The transparency of denial: Briefing in the debriefing paradigm.
Wegner, D. M., Coulton, G. F., & Wenzlaff, R. M. (1985) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.49.2.338 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
When discounting fails: Conditions under which individuals use discredited information in making a judgment.
Schul, Y., & Burnstein, E. (1985) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.49.4.894 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Subliminal Advertising: What You See Is What You Get
Moore, T. E. (1982) · Journal of Marketing · doi:10.2307/3203339 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Untitled work
(1993) · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Automaticity and cognitive control.
Logan, G. D. (1989) · Cited by 125 · see citing works
Can irrationality be intelligently discussed?
Kahneman, D. J., & Tversky, A. (1983) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00017246 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Personal involvement and the robustness of perceptual salience effects.
Borgida, E., & Howard-Pitney, B. (1983) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.45.3.560 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Inadmissible evidence and juror verdicts.
Thompson, W. C., Fong, G. T., & ROSENHAN, D. L. (1981) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.40.3.453 · Cited by 112 · see citing works
Effects of Inadmissible Evidence and Level of Judicial Admonishment to Disregard on the Judgments of Mock Jurors1
Wolf, S., & Montgomery, D. A. (1977) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.1977.tb00746.x · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Person memory and judgments: The impact of information that one is told to disregard.
Wyer, R. S., & Budesheim, T. L. (1987) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.53.1.14 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
States of Affairs and States of Mind: The Effect of Knowledge of Beliefs
Keysar, B., Ginzel, L. E., & Bazerman, M. H. (1995) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1006/obhd.1995.1106 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Personal involvement and strategies for making contingency judgments: A stake in the dating game makes a difference.
Harkness, A. R., DeBono, K. G., & Borgida, E. (1985) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.49.1.22 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Belief and Will
Price, H. (1954) · Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume · doi:10.1093/aristoteliansupp/28.1.1 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Moods and Their Vicissitudes: Thoughts and Feelings as Information
Clore, G. L., & Parrott, W. G. (2020) · Garland Science eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781003058731-8 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
The American jury on trial: psychological perspectives
(1989) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.26-2934 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Effects of instructions to disregard information on its subsequent recall and use in making judgments.
Wyer, R. S., & Unverzagt, W. H. (1985) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.48.3.533 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
When Warning Succeeds: The Effect of Warning on Success in Ignoring Invalid Information
Schul, Y. (1993) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1006/jesp.1993.1003 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Automatic and controlled processes in prejudice: The role of stereotypes and personal beliefs.
Devine, P. G. (1989) · Cited by 65 · see citing works
The halo effect revisited: Forewarned is not forearmed
Wetzel, C. G., Wilson, T. D., & Kort, J. (1981) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/0022-1031(81)90049-4 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Self-citation
The Direct and Indirect Effects of Inadmissible Evidence1
Carretta, T. R., & Moreland, R. L. (1983) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.1983.tb01741.x · Cited by 63 · see citing works
The predominance of seven and the apparent spontaneity of numerical choices.
Kubovy, M., & Psotka, J. (1976) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037//0096-1523.2.2.291 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Illusory correlation: A further exploration of Chapman's paradigm.
Kurtz, R. M., & Garfield, S. L. (1978) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-006x.46.5.1009 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
The Impact of A Discredited Key Witness
Hatvany, N., & Strack, F. (1980) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.1980.tb00728.x · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Response availability and the apparent spontaneity of numerical choices.
Kubovy, M. (1977) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/0096-1523.3.2.359 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Authoritarianism, Pretrial Publicity, and Awareness of Bias in Simulated Jurors
Sue, S., Smith, R. E., & Pedroza, G. (1975) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.2466/pr0.1975.37.3f.1299 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Public Perceptions of Subliminal Advertising
Zanot, E. J., Pincus, J. D., & Lamp, E. (1983) · Journal of Advertising · doi:10.1080/00913367.1983.10672829 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Dispelling negative expectancies: The impact of interaction goals and target characteristics on the expectancy confirmation process
Darley, J. M., Fleming, J. H., Hilton, J. L., et al. (1988) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/0022-1031(88)90042-x · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Forewarning of content and involvement: Consequences for persuasion and resistance to persuasion
Chen, H. C., Reardon, R., Rea, C. B., & Moore, D. J. (1992) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/0022-1031(92)90044-k · Cited by 52 · see citing works
A framework for thinking intentionally about unintended thoughts.
Uleman, J. S. (1989) · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Effects of knowledge about remote social events on prosocial behavior, social conception, and mood.
Hornstein, H. A., LaKind, E., Frankel, G., & Manne, S. (1975) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.32.6.1038 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Instructions to disregard potentially useful information: The effects of pragmatics on evaluative judgments and recall
Golding, J. M., Fowler, S. A., Long, D. L., & Latta, H. (1990) · Journal of Memory and Language · doi:10.1016/0749-596x(90)90073-9 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Recent perspectives on unconscious processing: Still no marketing applications
Pratkanis, A. R., & Greenwald, A. G. (1988) · Psychology and Marketing · doi:10.1002/mar.4220050405 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Biases In Trials Involving Defendants Charged With Multiple Offenses1
Tanford, S., & Penrod, S. (1982) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.1982.tb00879.x · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Social inference processes in juror judgments of multiple-offense trials.
Tanford, S., & Penrod, S. (1984) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.47.4.749 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
When crimes are joined at trial.
Greene, E., & Loftus, E. F. (1985) · Law and Human Behavior · doi:10.1007/bf01067051 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Social foundations of mental control
Wegner, D. M., Erber, R., & Pennebaker, J. W. (1993) · Cited by 31 · see citing works
The Discredible Eyewitness
Weinberg, H. I., & Baron, R. S. (1982) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/014616728281010 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Subliminal auditory messages: An evaluation
Merikle, P. M. (1988) · Psychology and Marketing · doi:10.1002/mar.4220050406 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Increasing consensus in trait judgments through outcome dependency
Flink, C., & Park, B. (1991) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/0022-1031(91)90003-o · Cited by 22 · see citing works
A Comparison of Verdicts Obtained in Severed and Joined Criminal Trials1
Horowitz, I. A., Bordens, K. S., & Feldman, M. S. (1980) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.1980.tb00723.x · Cited by 22 · see citing works
The effects of type of encoding and strength of discounting appeal on the success of ignoring an invalid testimony
Schul, Y., & Manzury, F. (1990) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.2420200405 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Self-inference processes in emotion.
Olson, J. M., Zanna, M. P., & Herman, C. P. (2013) · doi:10.4324/9780203762950-5 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Acting on Ideas: Appropriation to One's Self
Wicklund, R. A., Reuter, T., & Schiffmann, R. (1988) · Basic and Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1207/s15324834basp0901_2 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
When Instructions to Forget Become Instructions to Remember
Golding, J. M., & Hauselt, J. (1994) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167294202005 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
The Effects of Discredited Eyewitness Testimony: A Meta-Analysis
Whitley, B. E. (1987) · The Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/00224545.1987.9713681 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Unconscious sources of subjectivity and suffering: Is consciousness the solution?
Higgins, E., & Bargh, J. A. (1992) · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Making your choices count : economic principles for everyday decisions
Morgan, J. N., & Duncan, G. J. (1982) · University of Michigan Press eBooks · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Discussion: Stich and Nisbett on Justifying Inference Rules
Conee, E., & Feldman, R. (1983) · Philosophy of Science · doi:10.1086/289115 · Cited by 5 · see citing works

Flagged first, then by citations

3 of the 171 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Sorted by citations

Individual differences in reasoning: Implications for the rationality debate?
Stanovich, K., & West, R. (2000) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00003435 · Cited by 2,987 · see citing works
Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment
Bottom, W. P., Gilovich, T., Griffin, D. W., & Kahneman, D. (2002) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.2307/20159081 · Cited by 3,923 · see citing works
Misinformation and Its Correction: Continued Influence and Successful Debiasing
Lewandowsky, S., Ecker, U. K. H., Seifert, C. M., Schwarz, N., & Cook, J. (2012) · Psychological Science in the Public Interest · doi:10.1177/1529100612451018 · Cited by 2,920 · see citing works
“Warnings seem to be more effective when they are administered before the misinformation is encoded rather than after (Chambers & Zaragoza, 2001; Ecker et al., 2010; Schul, 1993).”
Emotion and Decision Making
Lerner, J. S., Li, Y., Valdesolo, P., & Kassam, K. S. (2015) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115043 · Cited by 2,913 · see citing works
Ironic processes of mental control.
Wegner, D. M. (1994) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037//0033-295x.101.1.34 · Cited by 2,609 · see citing works
Dispositional differences in cognitive motivation: The life and times of individuals varying in need for cognition.
Cacioppo, J. T., Petty, R. E., Feinstein, J. A., & Jarvis, W. B. G. (1996) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.119.2.197 · Cited by 2,517 · see citing works
Accounting for the effects of accountability.
Lerner, J. S., & Tetlock, P. E. (1999) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.255 · Cited by 2,383 · see citing works
“…only reduces strategy-based errors (i.e., errors resulting from insufficient effort, Arkes, 1991), it also reduces certain association-based errors (i.e., errors resulting from associations within semantic memory, Arkes, 1991; see also source-confusion errors, Wilson & Brekke, 1996).”
BackgroundResult
The Affect Heuristic
Slovic, P., Finucane, M., Peters, E., & MacGregor, D. G. (2002) · Heuristics and Biases · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511808098.025 · Cited by 2,349 · see citing works
ATTITUDES AND ATTITUDE CHANGE
Petty, R. E., Wegener, D. T., & Fabrigar, L. R. (1997) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.48.1.609 · Cited by 2,290 · see citing works
“We anticipate that this theme will continue and that work on bias correction (e.g. Petty & Wegener 1993, Wilson & Brekke 1994) will become integrated with work on persuasion (Wegener & Petty 1997).”
Background
Heuristics and Biases
(2002) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511808098 · Cited by 2,214 · see citing works
A model of dual attitudes.
Wilson, T. D., Lindsey, S., & Schooler, T. Y. (2000) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.107.1.101 · Cited by 2,112 · see citing works
“With motivated overriding, it is people's experience of A; (or the theory that they have an unwanted attitude; see Monteith, 1993; Wilson & Brekke, 1994) that triggers an attempt to override it, and this overriding requires effort and capacity (e.g., in the case of prejudice).”
BackgroundSelf-citation
The correspondence bias.
Gilbert, D. T., & Malone, P. S. (1995) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.117.1.21 · Cited by 1,897 · see citing works
Normative social influence is underdetected
Nolan, J. M., Schultz, P. W., Cialdini, R. B., Goldstein, N. J., & Griskevicius, V. (2008) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167208316691 · Cited by 1,772 · see citing works
Representativeness revisited: Attribute substitution in intuitive judgment.
Kahneman, D., & Frederick, S. (2002) · Heuristics and Biases · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511808098.004 · Cited by 3,476 · see citing works
Why Propensity Scores Should Not Be Used for Matching
King, G., & Nielsen, R. (2019) · Political Analysis · doi:10.1017/pan.2019.11 · Cited by 1,706 · see citing works
“People do not have easy access to their own mental processes and they have little self-evident information to use to avoid the problem (Wilson and Brekke, 1994).”
BackgroundInfluential
Uniting the Tribes of Fluency to Form a Metacognitive Nation
Alter, A. L., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2009) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868309341564 · Cited by 1,674 · see citing works
Interpersonal Perception: A Social Relations Analysis
Kenny, D. A. (1988) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/026540758800500207 · Cited by 1,516 · see citing works
Social Cognition: Thinking Categorically about Others
Macrae, C. N., & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2000) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.51.1.93 · Cited by 1,347 · see citing works
“…past (Freud 1957), recent years have witnessed a resurgence of interest in the question of how perceivers achieve mastery over their thoughts and recollections (Bodenhausen & Macrae 1998, Carver & Scheier 1990, Jacoby et al 1999, Wegner 1994, Wegner & Pennebaker 1993, Wilson & Brekke 1994).”
Background
Metacognitive Experiences in Consumer Judgment and Decision Making
Schwarz, N. (2004) · Journal of Consumer Psychology · doi:10.1207/s15327663jcp1404_2 · Cited by 1,343 · see citing works
Feelings and phenomenal experiences
Schwarz, N., Clore, G. L., Kruglanski, A. W., & (eds, E. T. H. (2007) · Cited by 1,350 · see citing works
Neural reuse: A fundamental organizational principle of the brain
Anderson, M. L. (2010) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x10000853 · Cited by 1,212 · see citing works
Support theory: a nonextensional representation of subjective probability
Tversky, A., & Koehler, D. J. (1994) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.101.4.547 · Cited by 1,167 · see citing works
Prejudice and perception: The role of automatic and controlled processes in misperceiving a weapon.
Payne, B. K. (2001) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.81.2.181 · Cited by 1,151 · see citing works
Attitude change: Multiple roles for persuasion variables.
Petty, R. E., & Wegener, D. T. (1998) · Cited by 993 · see citing works
Party Over Policy: The Dominating Impact of Group Influence on Political Beliefs.
Cohen, G. L. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.85.5.808 · Cited by 1,400 · see citing works
“Second, people have limited insight into the true sources of their beliefs and behavior, and they tend to base their causal self-analysis on widely held but error-prone folk theories (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977; Petty, Wegener, & White, 1998; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
Sympathy and callousness: The impact of deliberative thought on donations to identifiable and statistical victims
Small, D. A., Loewenstein, G. F., & Slovic, P. (2006) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2006.01.005 · Cited by 993 · see citing works
“Several theorists, beginning with Zajonc (1980), have proposed that the affective system is a faster, more automatic system, whose output occurs before the output of the deliberate system, which involves slower, more effortful processing (see also Epstein, 1994; Shiv & Fedorikhin, 1999; Strack & Deutsch, 2004; Wilson…”
Background
An inkblot for attitudes: Affect misattribution as implicit measurement.
Payne, B. K., Cheng, C. M., Govorun, O., & Stewart, B. D. (2005) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.89.3.277 · Cited by 1,371 · see citing works
“…that in order to correct judgments, people must (a) have an appropriate lay theory of how they might be biased, (b) be motivated to correct for its effects, and (c) have the opportunity or capacity to adjust their response (Martin et al., 1990; Wegener & Petty, 1997; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
The Unconscious Mind
Bargh, J. A., & Morsella, E. (2008) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1745-6916.2008.00064.x · Cited by 965 · see citing works
“The answer was ‘‘not very well’’ (see also Wilson & Brekke, 1994), which was surprising and controversial at the time given the overall assumption of many that judgments and behavior (the higher mental processes) were typically consciously intended and thus available to conscious awareness.”
Background
Priming effects of television food advertising on eating behavior.
Harris, J. L., Bargh, J. A., & Brownell, K. D. (2009) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0014399 · Cited by 945 · see citing works
“Increasingly, food companies are replacing TV advertising with more subtle marketing strategies ( Chester & Montgomery, 2007 ).”
Influential
Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity and Dual-Process Theories of the Mind.
Barrett, L. F., Tugade, M. M., & Engle, R. W. (2004) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.130.4.553 · Cited by 913 · see citing works
“Suppression effects have been well documented in person perception and stereotyping processes (for summaries of such effects, see Bodenhausen & Macrae, 1998; Devine & Monteith, 1999; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
Feelings-as-Information Theory
Schwarz, N. (2012) · SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781446249215.n15 · Cited by 927 · see citing works
The effect of temporal distance on level of mental construal
Liberman, N., Sagristano, M. D., & Trope, Y. (2002) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0022-1031(02)00535-8 · Cited by 905 · see citing works
“Our approach to the question of intertemporal evaluation and choice is based on the social cognitive view that people’s responses to social events are based on how they mentally construe those events (Griffin & Ross, 1991; Pennington & Hastie, 1988, 1993; Ross, 1990; Semin & Fiedler, 1988; Semin & Smith, 1999; Smith,…”
Background
Environmental preference and restoration: (How) are they related?
den Berg, A. E. V., Koole, S. L., & van der Wulp, N. Y. (2003) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0272-4944(02)00111-1 · Cited by 891 · see citing works
Affective Forecasting
Wilson, T. D., & Gilbert, D. T. (2003) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(03)01006-2 · Cited by 885 · see citing works
Self-citation
First offers as anchors: The role of perspective-taking and negotiator focus.
Galinsky, A. D., & Mussweiler, T. (2001) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.81.4.657 · Cited by 836 · see citing works
“…Correction Versus Considering the Opposite Recent conceptualizations of judgmental correction (e.g., Strack, 1992; Strack & Hannover, 1996; Wilson & Brekke, 1994; Wegener & Petty, 1995) suggest a general corrective strategy that—in principle—may also be applied to the context of…”
Background
Knowledge Calibration: What Consumers Know and What They Think They Know
Alba, J. W., & Hutchinson, J. W. (2000) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/314317 · Cited by 832 · see citing works
Intuition: A social cognitive neuroscience approach.
Lieberman, M. D. (2000) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.126.1.109 · Cited by 805 · see citing works
“…prominent research in field of decision making (Arkes & Hammond, 1986; Denes-Raj & Epstein, 1994; Fiske & Neuberg, 1990; Hammond, 1996; Hastie & Pennington, 1995; N isbett, Fong, Lehman, & Cheng, 1987; Nisbett & Ross, 1980; Tv"~rsky & Kahneman, 1974; but see Bargh, 1997; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Backlash effects for disconfirming gender stereotypes in organizations
Rudman, L. A., & Phelan, J. E. (2008) · Research in Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.riob.2008.04.003 · Cited by 776 · see citing works
“Because awareness of a problem is the first step to eliminating it (Wilson & Brekke, 1994), educating people about their prescriptive and implicit gender stereotypes should be investigated as a means of reducing backlash.”
Background
The effects of stereotype activation on behavior: A review of possible mechanisms.
Wheeler, S. C., & Petty, R. E. (2001) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.127.6.797 · Cited by 769 · see citing works
Relationship orientation as a moderator of the effects of social power.
Chen, S., Lee-Chai, A. Y., & Bargh, J. A. (2001) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.80.2.173 · Cited by 764 · see citing works
Mechanisms of Self-Control Failure: Motivation and Limited Resources
Muraven, M., & Slessareva, E. (2003) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167203029007008 · Cited by 764 · see citing works
“Similarly, one would expect that individuals low in cognitive resources but high in motivation would be more able to make mental corrections (Wilson & Brekke, 1994) than individuals low in resources and low in motivation.”
Background
Measures of Anchoring in Estimation Tasks
Jacowitz, K. E., & Kahneman, D. J. (1995) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672952111004 · Cited by 753 · see citing works
Feelings and Consumer Decision Making: The Appraisal‐Tendency Framework
Han, S., Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D. J. (2007) · Journal of Consumer Psychology · doi:10.1016/s1057-7408(07)70023-2 · Cited by 701 · see citing works
“Indeed decision makers themselves regard such influences as unwanted (Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
Heuristics and Biases: Ambiguity and Self-Evaluation: The Role of Idiosyncratic Trait Definitions in Self-Serving Assessments of Ability
Dunning, D., Meyerowitz, J. A., & Holzberg, A. D. (2002) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511808098.020 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
The Dirt on Coming Clean: Perverse Effects of Disclosing Conflicts of Interest
Cain, D. M., Loewenstein, G. F., & Moore, D. A. (2005) · The Journal of Legal Studies · doi:10.1086/426699 · Cited by 609 · see citing works
Category and stereotype activation: Is prejudice inevitable?
Lepore, L., & Brown, R. J. (1997) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.72.2.275 · Cited by 617 · see citing works
Sober Second Thought: The Effects of Accountability, Anger, and Authoritarianism on Attributions of Responsibility
Lerner, J. S., Goldberg, J. H., & Tetlock, P. E. (1998) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167298246001 · Cited by 609 · see citing works
Cognitive debiasing 1: origins of bias and theory of debiasing
Croskerry, P., Singhal, G., & Mamede, S. (2013) · BMJ Quality & Safety · doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2012-001712 · Cited by 605 · see citing works
Anchoring, Activation, and the Construction of Values
Chapman, G. B., & Johnson, E. J. (1999) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1006/obhd.1999.2841 · Cited by 592 · see citing works
“That is, subjects may try to correct what they perceive to be a mental contamination effect of the anchor (Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
Hypothesis-Consistent Testing and Semantic Priming in the Anchoring Paradigm: A Selective Accessibility Model
Mussweiler, T., & Strack, F. (1999) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1006/jesp.1998.1364 · Cited by 585 · see citing works
Implicit social cognition: from measures to mechanisms
Nosek, B. A., Hawkins, C. B., & Frazier, R. S. (2011) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2011.01.005 · Cited by 578 · see citing works
Understanding and Confronting Our Mistakes: The Epidemiology of Error in Radiology and Strategies for Error Reduction
Bruno, M. A., Walker, E. A., & Abujudeh, H. H. (2015) · Radiographics · doi:10.1148/rg.2015150023 · Cited by 577 · see citing works
“The idea of cognitive debiasing has existed for decades and was well described by Wilson and Brekke (25) in 1994 as a form of “mental correction.”
BackgroundInfluential
Overcoming the Inevitable Anchoring Effect: Considering the Opposite Compensates for Selective Accessibility
Mussweiler, T., Strack, F., & Pfeiffer, T. (2000) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672002611010 · Cited by 556 · see citing works
Objectivity in the eye of the beholder: Divergent perceptions of bias in self versus others
Pronin, E., Gilovich, T., & Ross, L. (2004) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.111.3.781 · Cited by 771 · see citing works
“Wilson and Brekke (1994) have argued that the difficulty of avoiding bias is exacerbated precisely because the relevant influence so often occurs outside of conscious awareness.”
Background
Playing Dice With Criminal Sentences: The Influence of Irrelevant Anchors on Experts’ Judicial Decision Making
Englich, B., Mussweiler, T., & Strack, F. (2006) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167205282152 · Cited by 554 · see citing works
“Such influences from normatively irrelevant factors appear to be a fact of our mental lives (for an overview, see Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
The Face of Need: Facial Emotion Expression on Charity Advertisements
Small, D. A., & Verrochi, N. M. (2009) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.1509/jmkr.46.6.777 · Cited by 546 · see citing works
Episodic and semantic knowledge in emotional self-report: Evidence for two judgment processes.
Robinson, M. D., & Clore, G. L. (2002) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.83.1.198 · Cited by 531 · see citing works
“Indeed, Wilson and Brekke (1994) have asserted that priming always or nearly always taints judgments, either in a prime-congruent or in a prime-incongruent direction (e.g., see Herr et al., 1983).”
Background
Reducing the Influence of Extrapersonal Associations on the Implicit Association Test: Personalizing the IAT.
Olson, M. A., & Fázio, R. H. (2004) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.86.5.653 · Cited by 532 · see citing works
“We do not question that individuals may possess attitudes that, when met with their attention, they prefer to correct for or disavow in some way (Dunton & Fazio, 1997; Monteith, Ashburn-Nardo, Voils, & Czopp, 2002; Plant & Devine, 2001; Wegener & Petty, 1995; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
The dark side of personality at work
Spain, S. M., Harms, P. D., & LeBreton, J. M. (2013) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.1894 · Cited by 524 · see citing works
“As such, we are seeing progress toward a better understanding of unconscious processes and motives (cf. Cramer, 2006; De Houwer, Teige-Mocigemba, Spruyt, & Moors, 2009; Epstein, 1994; Fazio & Olson, 2003; James & LeBreton, 2012; Kihlstrom, 1999; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
Why Break the Habit of a Lifetime? Rethinking the Roles of Intention, Habit, and Emotion in Continuing Information Technology use1
de Guinea, A. O., & Markus, M. L. (2009) · MIS Quarterly · doi:10.2307/20650303 · Cited by 515 · see citing works
Negotiating with Yourself and Losing: Making Decisions with Competing Internal Preferences
Bazerman, M. H., Tenbrunsel, A. E., & Wade-Benzoni, K. (1998) · The Academy of Management Review · doi:10.2307/259372 · Cited by 510 · see citing works
"Unlearning" automatic biases: The malleability of implicit prejudice and stereotypes.
Rudman, L. A., Ashmore, R. D., & Gary, M. L. (2001) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.81.5.856 · Cited by 508 · see citing works
Hot-cold empathy gaps and medical decision making.
Loewenstein, G. F. (2005) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/0278-6133.24.4.s49 · Cited by 503 · see citing works
“Perhaps exactly because it has such far-reaching effects, people have difficulty predicting what they will want and how they will behave in affective states that are different from their current state (see, e.g., Wilson & Brekke, 1994; Wilson & Gilbert, 2003).”
Background
Automatic Effects of Brand Exposure on Motivated Behavior: How Apple Makes You “Think Different”
Fitzsimons, G. M., Chartrand, T. L., & Fitzsimons, G. J. (2008) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/527269 · Cited by 493 · see citing works
Flexible correction processes in social judgment: The role of naive theories in corrections for perceived bias.
Wegener, D. T., & Petty, R. E. (1995) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.68.1.36 · Cited by 490 · see citing works
Explicit warnings reduce but do not eliminate the continued influence of misinformation
Ecker, U. K. H., Lewandowsky, S., & Tang, D. (2010) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/mc.38.8.1087 · Cited by 478 · see citing works
The Flexible Correction Model: The Role of Naive Theories of Bias in Bias Correction
Wegener, D. T., & Petty, R. E. (1997) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60017-9 · Cited by 471 · see citing works
Why break the habit of a lifetime? rethinking the roles of intention, habit, and emotion in continuing information technology use
de Guinea, A. O., & Markus, M. L. (2009) · Journal of the Association for Information Systems · doi:10.5555/2481626.2481629 · Cited by 460 · see citing works
When modesty prevails: Differential favorability of self-presentation to friends and strangers.
Tice, D., Butler, J. L., Muraven, M., & Stillwell, A. (1995) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.6.1120 · Cited by 458 · see citing works
Metacognitive experiences and the intricacies of setting people straight: implications for debiasing and public information campaigns
Schwarz, N., Sanna, L. J., Skurnik, I., & Yoon, C. (2007) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(06)39003-x · Cited by 441 · see citing works
“Not surprisingly , theories of debiasing share this focus (for reviews see Arkes, 1991; FischhoV, 1982; Larrick, 2004; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
Facing faces: Studies on the cognitive aspects of physiognomy.
Hassin, R. R., & Yaacov Trope, B. (2000) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.78.5.837 · Cited by 439 · see citing works
The social psychology of gender: how power and intimacy shape gender relations
Rudman, L. A., & Glick, P. (2009) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.46-4142 · Cited by 435 · see citing works
The Future Is Now: Temporal Correction in Affective Forecasting
Gilbert, D. T., Gill, M. J., & Wilson, T. D. (2002) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1006/obhd.2001.2982 · Cited by 429 · see citing works
“In short, when a person's hedonic reactions are "contaminated" (Wilson & Brekke, 1994) by factors other than the mental representation of the future event, those feelings may be poor proxies for the person's later reactions to the event itself.”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Unpacking, repacking, and anchoring: advances in support theory.
Rottenstreich, Y., & Tversky, A. (1997) · Psychology Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.104.2.406 · Cited by 437 · see citing works
What's in a name: Implicit self-esteem and the automatic self.
Koole, S. L., Dijksterhuis, A., & van Knippenberg, A. (2001) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.80.4.669 · Cited by 424 · see citing works
“Such a correction account supposes that people (a) possess some awareness of their bias for name letters and (b) have appropriate lay theories about the size and direction of their bias for name letters (Strack & Hannover, 1996; Wegener & Petty, 1997; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
Social Projection of Transient Drive States
Leaf Van Boven, A., & Loewenstein, G. F. (2003) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167203254597 · Cited by 419 · see citing works
“…such adjustments tend to be insufficient (Jacowitz & Kahneman, 1995; Tversky & Kahneman, 1974), and because evidence that adjustment is insufficient is seldom directly observable (Wilson & Brekke, 1994), people are likely to underestimate how differently they would feel in a different situation.”
Background
Cognitive debiasing 2: impediments to and strategies for change
Croskerry, P., Singhal, G., & Mamede, S. (2013) · BMJ Quality & Safety · doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2012-001713 · Cited by 419 · see citing works
“5.”
Background
BIASES IN THE INTERPRETATION AND USE OF RESEARCH RESULTS
MacCoun, R. J. (1998) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.49.1.259 · Cited by 419 · see citing works
Incorporating the Irrelevant: Anchors in Judgments of Belief and Value
Chapman, G. B., & Johnson, E. J. (2002) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511808098.008 · Cited by 447 · see citing works
“Wilson et al. (1996) found that offering an accuracy prize decreased subjects' ratings of the anchor's influence without actually decreasing the anchoring effect.”
Background
Two systems of reasoning.
Sloman, S. (2002) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511808098.024 · Cited by 440 · see citing works
Beyond valence in the perception of likelihood: The role of emotion specificity.
DeSteno, D. A., Petty, R. E., Wegener, D. T., & Rucker, D. D. (2000) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.78.3.397 · Cited by 401 · see citing works
The Role of Television in the Construction of Consumer Reality
O’Guinn, T. C., & Shrum, L. J. (1997) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/209483 · Cited by 403 · see citing works
Are “implicit” attitudes unconscious?
Gawronski, B., Hofmann, W., & Wilbur, C. J. (2006) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2005.11.007 · Cited by 401 · see citing works
Inhibitors and Enablers as Dual Factor Concepts in Technology Usage
Cenfetelli, R. T. (2004) · Journal of the Association for Information Systems · doi:10.17705/1jais.00059 · Cited by 393 · see citing works
Losing Consciousness: Automatic Influences on Consumer Judgment, Behavior, and Motivation
Bargh, J. A. (2002) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/341577 · Cited by 569 · see citing works
“…all, almost all external, environmental influences on our behavior involve stimuli and messages that are in plain view, yet either we do not realize that the influence is taking place (Wilson and Brekke 1994) or we are overconfident as to our ability to control any such influences (Bargh 1999b).”
Material priming: The influence of mundane physical objects on situational construal and competitive behavioral choice
Kay, A. C., Wheeler, S. C., Bargh, J. A., & Ross, L. D. (2004) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2004.06.003 · Cited by 391 · see citing works
In search of realistic optimism: Meaning, knowledge, and warm fuzziness.
Schneider, S. L. (2001) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.56.3.250 · Cited by 390 · see citing works
Debiasing Decisions
Morewedge, C. K., Yoon, H., Scopelliti, I., Symborski, C., Korris, J., & Kassam, K. (2015) · Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1177/2372732215600886 · Cited by 259 · see citing works
“…the life span (Bruine de Bruin, Parker, & Fischhoff, 2007; Dhami, Schlottmann, & Waldmann, 2011; Peters & de Bruin, 2011), but people are generally unaware of the extent to which they are biased and have difficulty debiasing their decision making (Scopelliti et al., 2015; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
Reflective and Automatic Processes in the Initiation and Maintenance of Dietary Change
Rothman, A. J., Sheeran, P., & Wood, W. (2009) · Annals of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s12160-009-9118-3 · Cited by 368 · see citing works
“Sheeran (2008, unpublished raw data) obtained evidence consistent with Wilson and Brekke's analysis in a longitudinal study of snack food consumption that used conscientiousness as an indicator of participants' motivation and ability to correct for the unwanted influence of a positive stereotype of the typical snack f…”
Background
Towards a balanced social psychology: Causes, consequences, and cures for the problem-seeking approach to social behavior and cognition
Krueger, J. I., & Funder, D. C. (2004) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x04000081 · Cited by 370 · see citing works
“Following Dawes (1976), some favored the metaphor of the " cognitive miser " by emphasizing limited mental resources, reliance on irrelevant cues, and the difficulties of effortful correction (Wilson & Brekke 1994).”
Valuing thoughts, ignoring behavior: The introspection illusion as a source of the bias blind spot
Pronin, E., & Kugler, M. B. (2007) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2006.05.011 · Cited by 366 · see citing works
“bias. Biases typically operate nonconsciously, thereby leaving their inXuence hidden from introspection ( Wilson & Brekke, 1994; Wilson, Centerbar, & Brekke, 2002).”
Background
When Less Is More: Counterfactual Thinking and Satisfaction Among Olympic Medalists
Medvec, V., Madey, S. F., & Gilovich, T. (1995) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.69.4.603 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Training to reduce LGBTQ-related bias among medical, nursing, and dental students and providers: a systematic review
Morris, M., Cooper, R. L., Ramesh, A., Tabatabai, M., Arcury, T. A., Shinn, M., Im, W., Juarez, P., & Matthews-Juarez, P. (2019) · BMC Medical Education · doi:10.1186/s12909-019-1727-3 · Cited by 363 · see citing works
Correcting false information in memory: Manipulating the strength of misinformation encoding and its retraction
Ecker, U. K. H., Lewandowsky, S., Swire‐Thompson, B., & Chang, D. (2011) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-011-0065-1 · Cited by 359 · see citing works
“Wilson and Brekke (1994) argued that unintentional”
Consequences of erudite vernacular utilized irrespective of necessity: problems with using long words needlessly
Oppenheimer, D. M. (2005) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.1178 · Cited by 349 · see citing works
“…to the judgement that is being made, people reduce their reliance on ﬂuency as a cue; in fact, in an effort not to be inﬂuenced by the irrelevant source of ﬂuency, they overcompensate and are biased in the opposite direction (see Wilson & Brekke, 1994 for a review of overcompensation effects).”
Neural Signals for the Detection of Unintentional Race Bias
Amodio, D. M., Harmon‐Jones, E., Devine, P. G., Curtin, J. J., Hartley, S. L., & Covert, A. E. (2004) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.01502003.x · Cited by 352 · see citing works
“The demonstration that conflict-detection processes are activated in the face of race-biased tendencies at very early stages of response execution suggests an extension of extant models of prejudice control (e.g., Monteith, 1993) and mental correction (Wegener & Petty, 1997; Wilson & Brekke, 1994 ).”
Background
Reducing Automatically Activated Racial Prejudice Through Implicit Evaluative Conditioning
Olson, M. A., & Fázio, R. H. (2006) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167205284004 · Cited by 352 · see citing works
“Given people’s inability to adequately detect and correct for bias ( Wilson & Brekke, 1994 ) or monitor their nonverbal behavior (e.g., Dovidio et al., 1997), automatic prejudices are pervasive influences in everyday life.”
Background
Self-control and alcohol restraint: An initial application of the Self-Control Strength Model.
Muraven, M., Collins, R. L., & Neinhaus, K. (2002) · Psychology of Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1037//0893-164x.16.2.113 · Cited by 347 · see citing works
What's in a name: implicit self-esteem and the automatic self
Koole, S. L., Dijksterhuis, A., & van Knippenberg, A. (2001) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.80.4.669 · Cited by 424 · see citing works
Debiasing
Larrick, R. P. (2004) · Blackwell Handbook of Judgment and Decision Making · doi:10.1002/9780470752937.ch16 · Cited by 328 · see citing works

Authors: Wilson, T. D., & Brekke, N.
Affiliations: University of Virginia (US)
Venue: Psychological Bulletin
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Published: 1994
Volume: 116
Issue: 1
Pages: 117-142
ISSN: 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
1939-1455
DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.116.1.117
OpenAlex: W2035370986
Semantic Scholar: 713d6a95d5409a9a7ffcd4ae4337078e4851ccf4
Cited by: 1,157
References: 171
Citations by year: 2026: 10 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 49 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 67 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 43 · 2015: 43 · 2014: 43 · 2013: 38 · 2012: 45
FWCI: 12.74
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders: National Institutes of Health (5r01mh041841-10)
National Institute of Mental Health (MH41841)
Topics: Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
Keywords: mental contamination, judgment bias, automatic processing, source confusion, unconscious processes, metacognition
MeSH terms: Cognition, Humans, Judgment, Mental Processes

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

Mental contamination and mental correction: Unwanted influences on judgments and evaluations.

Abstract

Integrity signals

Claims the paper makes

Claims other papers make about this one

Cites

Cited by

Related

Record

About these checks