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

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 168 of the 171 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

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

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

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?

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
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
A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
Morvan, C., & O’Connor, A. (2017) · Macat Library eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781912282432 · Cited by 18,284
Untitled work
(1954) · Cited by 15,935
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
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
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
Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state.
Schachter, S., & Singer, J. (1962) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/h0046234 · Cited by 6,223
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
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

Show all 171 references

Sorted by citations

Items 801–900 of 1,000

The Case for Heterogeneity in Metacognitive Appraisals of Biased Beliefs
Cusimano, C. (2024) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/10888683241251520 · Cited by 5
“People analyze competing thoughts that come to mind, check their thoughts for errors, and engage, monitor, and evaluate steps to change their mind (Bhatia, 2017; De Neys & Pennycook, 2019; Wegener et al., 2012; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
On the relativity of athletic performance: a comparison perspective on performance judgments in sports
Damisch, L., & Mussweiler, T. (2009) · Progress in brain research · doi:10.1016/s0079-6123(09)01302-8 · Cited by 5
Sobre la resistencia a la Psicología Social
Briñol, P., Blanco, A., & de la Corte, L. (2008) · International Journal of Social Psychology Revista de Psicología Social · doi:10.1174/021347408783399507 · Cited by 5
Limitations in reasoning about false beliefs in adults: the effect of priming or the curse of knowledge?
Dębska, A., & Komorowska, K. (2013) · Psychology of Language and Communication · doi:10.2478/plc-2013-0017 · Cited by 5
“This phenomenon is called “hindsight bias” (Fishoff, 1975), “mental contamination” (Wilson & Brekke, 1994), “realist bias” (Mitchell et al., 1996), or finally the “curse of knowledge” (Birch & Bloom, 2007).”
Bounded Rationality in the Emergency Department
Feufel, M. A. (2009) · Journal of Bioresource Management · Cited by 5
Something in the Way You Primed Me: Belief Monitoring When Source Identification Is Not Possible
Santos, A. S., Garcia‐Marques, L., Mackie, D. M., Palma, T. A., Costa, R. S., & de Almeida, F. (2017) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.2017.35.3.273 · Cited by 5
On Juror Decision Making: An Empathic Inquiry
Simon, D. (2019) · Annual Review of Law and Social Science · doi:10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-101518-042658 · Cited by 5
The effect of the synchrony experience on product evaluation
Ye, X., Guo, Z., & Ye, J. (2019) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.11.024 · Cited by 5
Trial by Tabloid: Can Implicit Bias Education Reduce Pretrial Publicity Bias?
Jones, A. M., Wong, K. A., Meyers, C., & Ruva, C. L. (2021) · Criminal Justice and Behavior · doi:10.1177/00938548211026956 · Cited by 5
“If individuals are unaware that their judgment is biased, they will not try to rectify it (Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
De-Biasing Legal Factfinders
Zenker, F. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198859307.003.0027 · Cited by 5
Helping on Social Media
van Steen, T., Müller, B. C. N., Li, S., Loman, J. G. B., & Buijzen, M. (2022) · Journal of Media Psychology Theories Methods and Applications · doi:10.1027/1864-1105/a000346 · Cited by 5
Anchoring in a Social Context: How the Possibility of Being Misinformed by Others Impacts One's Judgment
Reis, J., Ferreira, M. B., Mata, A., Seruti, A., & Garcia‐Marques, L. (2023) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.2023.41.1.67 · Cited by 5
Preparing Preservice Teachers to Teach Equitably: A Longitudinal, Collaborative Interrogation of Two Mathematics Teacher Educators’ Positionalities
Livers, S. D., & Willey, C. (2023) · Studying Teacher Education · doi:10.1080/17425964.2022.2164268 · Cited by 7
“…similar form of self-study could be used by educators (e.g., teachers, MTEs) in order to interrogate their own biases and blind spots (Kruger, 1999; Wilson & Brekke, 1994), as it is through the critical interrogation of self that prevents us from becoming stagnant and oblivious to the…”
Background
Psychologie des Strafverfahrens
Niehaus, S., Englich, B., & Volbert, R. (2009) · Steinkopff eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-7985-1746-2_17 · Cited by 5
Subtle priming of subtraction versus addition: a spill-over effect of math / La inducción sutil de sumar vs. restar: un efecto indirecto de las matemáticas
Paredes, B., Guyer, J. J., Briñol, P., & Petty, R. E. (2019) · International Journal of Social Psychology Revista de Psicología Social · doi:10.1080/02134748.2019.1649890 · Cited by 5
“…on source factors such as attractiveness and likeability, or recipient factors such as mood, which most people perceive to be biasing variables when they are unrelated to the merits of the proposal (Petty & Wegener, 1993; Petty, Wegener, & White, 1998; Wegener & Petty, 1995; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
The Relevance of Conscious Moral Reasoning
Musschenga, B. (2011) · SensePublishers eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-94-6091-716-5_6 · Cited by 5
Adaptive Rationality, Biases, and the Heterogeneity Hypothesis
Polonioli, A. (2015) · Review of Philosophy and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s13164-015-0281-0 · Cited by 8
Graded structure and the speed of category verification: On the moderating effects of anticipatory control for social vs. non-social categories
Olson, K. R., Lambert, A. J., & Zacks, J. M. (2003) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0022-1031(03)00098-2 · Cited by 5
“In addition, we assume, as do many researchers in this area, that both motivation and opportunity jointly moderate the likelihood that controlled processes actually occur in any given context (Fazio, 1990; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
On the Induction and Consequences of Variation in Behavior Perception
Ratcliff, J. J., & Lassiter, G. D. (2007) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-007-9003-9 · Cited by 5
“It would appear that when aspects of the environment automatically trigger a change in perceptual processing, a conscious attempt to derail it may sometimes be difficult to accomplish (compare to Wilson and Brekke 1994 ).”
Background
Retracted:Making sense of war: using the interpretation comparison model to understand the Iraq conflict
Stapel, D. A., & Marx, D. M. (2006) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.369 · Cited by 5
“It is also important to note that other models of assimilation and contrast effects have suggested that awareness of a primed event at the time of judgment leads to contrast away from the primed information, whereas no awareness of a primed event leads to assimilation towards the primed information (e.g., Lambert, Kha…”
Background
Retracted
A Family's Request for Deception
Capozzi, J. D., & Rhodes, R. (2006) · Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery · doi:10.2106/jbjs.e.01157.eth · Cited by 5
Legal Interpretation and Intuitions of Public Policy
Furgeson, J. R., & Babcock, L. C. (2012) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199737512.003.0026 · Cited by 5
COMMENTARIES on "Limitations to Free Association and Interpretation"
(2001) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1207/s15327965pli1203_02 · Cited by 5
Preface
Gilovich, T. D., Griffin, D., & Kahneman, D. J. (2002) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511808098.001 · Cited by 5
Disgust Promotes Disposal: Souring the Status QuoPreprint
Han, S., Lerner, J. S., & Zeckhauser, R. (2010) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.1624889 · Cited by 5
Numerical Formats within Risk Disclosures and the Moderating Effect of Investors’ Disclosure Management ConcernsPreprint
Nelson, M. W., & Rupar, K. K. (2011) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.1860348 · Cited by 5
Response to letter to the editor of FSI: Synergy regarding Objectivity is a myth that harms the practice and diversity of forensic science
Winburn, A. P., & Clemmons, C. M. J. (2021) · Forensic Science International Synergy · doi:10.1016/j.fsisyn.2021.100212 · Cited by 5
Reducing social judgment biases may require identifying the potential source of biasPreprint
Axt, J. R., Casola, G., & Nosek, B. A. (2018) · PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/ngxks · Cited by 7
Social Cognition
Moskowitz, G. B. (2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0099 · Cited by 5
Under The Nuclear Shadow: Situational Awareness Technology and Crisis Decisionmaking
Reddie, A. W., Goldblum, B., Farabaugh, B. F., et al. (2020) · doi:10.15868/socialsector.39937 · Cited by 5
Explaining Systematic Bias and Nontransparency in U.S. Social Security Administration Forecasts
Kashin, K., King, G., & Soneji, S. (2015) · Political Analysis · doi:10.1093/pan/mpv011 · Cited by 6
“…of bias exists because OCACT’s forecasting procedures meet essentially all the major conditions for generating inadvertent biases established in the extensive and well-documented social-psychological literature (Wilson and Brekke 1994; Gilbert 1998; Kahneman 2011; Banaji and Greenwald 2013).”
How do you happen to feel? The effect of certainty–uncertainty appraisals of incidental emotions on consumer affective forecasting error
Polyportis, A., & Kokkinaki, F. (2024) · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · doi:10.1002/cb.2333 · Cited by 4
Skepticism, Fallibilism, and Rational Evaluation
Hannon, M. (2021) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780429353468-12 · Cited by 4
Moral contamination: Perceptions of good (but not bad) deeds depend on the ethical history of the actor
Protzko, J., & Schooler, J. W. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1025214 · Cited by 4
Why Do People Think Individuals in Poverty Are Less Vulnerable to Harm?: Testing the Role of Intuitions About Adaptation
Cheek, N. N., & Murray, J. (2023) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672231202756 · Cited by 4
“…in the first place may sometimes be easier or more effective than attempting to correctly calibrate a misapplied intuition (Croskerry et al., 2013; Soll et al., 2015; Wilson & Brekke, 1994), and previous research on perceptions of people in poverty provides some potentially promising alternatives.”
How Can Debiasing Research Aid Efforts to Reduce Discrimination?
Axt, J. R., & To, J. (2024) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/10888683241244829 · Cited by 6
“In this sense, both traditional judgment biases and unintended discrimination are a form of “mental contamination” (Wilson & Brekke, 1994), where judgments or behaviors are impacted by mental processes that are outside of conscious awareness or conscious control.”
Exclusionary reasons and mental contamination
Rocchè, G. (2024) · Revus · doi:10.4000/12nic · Cited by 4
Be yourself, image is nothing: bias correction when viewing ads in sequence
Chien, Y.-W., & Hsiao, C.-C. (2014) · Social Influence · doi:10.1080/15534510.2014.890667 · Cited by 4
“For judgmental correction to occur, message recipients should not only perceive potential biases, they should also have sufficient ability and motivation to correct for the perceived biases (Wegener & Petty, 1995, 1997, 2001; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
11 Thresholds for Action in Judicial Decisions
Dalgleish, L. I., Shanteau, J., & Park, A. (2010) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367584.003.0011 · Cited by 4
Angel Investor Value Judgments and the Effects of Accounting Disclosures
Cataldi, B., & Downen, T. (2020) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/s1475-148820200000023003 · Cited by 4
Critical Thinking and Debiasing: Experimentation in an Academic Writing Course
Smith, G., & Peloghitis, J. (2020) · doi:10.37546/jaltpcp2019-51 · Cited by 4
“Wilson and Brekke (1994) provided a useful framework for understanding how debiasing works in educational contexts (see Figure 1).”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
Deliberating alone: deliberative bias and giving up on political talk
Mclaughlin, B., Wilkinson, K. T., Rendón, H., & Martinez, T. (2022) · Human Communication Research · doi:10.1093/hcr/hqac016 · Cited by 4
To Consent or Not to Consent to Screening, That Is the Question
Hofmann, B. (2023) · Healthcare · doi:10.3390/healthcare11070982 · Cited by 4
Théories à processus duaux et théories de l’éducation : le cas de l’enseignement de la pensée critique et de la logique
Beaulac, G., & Robert, S. (2011) · Les ateliers de l éthique · doi:10.7202/1044302ar · Cited by 4
How Alike Is It? versus How Likely Is It?: A Disjunction Fallacy in Probability Judgments
Bar‐Hillel, M., & Neter, E. (2002) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511808098.005 · Cited by 4
Do Consumers Know What They Will Like
Snell, J., & Gibbs, B. (1995) · ACR North American Advances · Cited by 4
But what if the default is defaulting?
Hassin, R. R., & Milyavsky, M. (2014) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x13000733 · Cited by 4
Persistent effects of subliminal stimulation: Sex differences and the effectiveness of debriefing
Birgegård, A., & Sohlberg, S. (2008) · Scandinavian Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9450.2007.00623.x · Cited by 4
“The same conclusion is implied by research by Wilson and Brekke (1994) who found that people saw unconscious influence as a very unlikely source of mental bias, but relative to that estimated likelihood it was the most unacceptable.”
BackgroundResultInfluential
The Authorising of Directors' Conflicts of Interest: Getting a Balance?
Keay, A. (2012) · Journal of Corporate Law Studies · doi:10.5235/147359712800129876 · Cited by 4
6 The Supreme Court, Social Psychology, and Group Formation
Devins, N. E., & Federspiel, W. (2010) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367584.003.0006 · Cited by 4
Influence of Message Sidedness, Pictures, and Need for Cognition on Beliefs and Behavior: The Terri Schiavo Case1
Czuchry, M., & Gray, B. (2009) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2009.00459.x · Cited by 4
Confidence via Correction: The Effect of Judgment Correction on Consumer ConfidencePreprint
Petersen, F. E., & Hamilton, R. W. (2013) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2294973 · Cited by 4
Investigating the simultaneous influence of intrinsic and extrinsic cues: an examination of the interaction between country of origin, price and selected sensory variables.
Veale, R. (2007) · Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) · Cited by 4
Age-Based Hiring Discrimination as a Function of Equity Norms and Self-Perceived ObjectivityPreprint
Lindner, N. M., & Nosek, B. A. (2016) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/uwwyc · Cited by 4
Performance-related feedback as a strategy to overcome spontaneous occupational stereotypes
Finnegan, E., Garnham, A., & Oakhill, J. V. (2023) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1177/17470218231196861 · Cited by 3
“Wilson and Brekke (1994) posit that, to overcome mental contamination (i.e., unwanted judgements or behaviour induced by mental processing that is unconscious or uncontrollable), an awareness of this unwanted processing is first required.”
Background
Evaluating cognitive bias in clinical ethics supports: a scoping review
Giaume, L., Lamblin, A., Piñol‐Domenech, N., Gignoux-Froment, F., & Trousselard, M. (2025) · BMC Medical Ethics · doi:10.1186/s12910-025-01162-z · Cited by 4
The interpersonal effect of emotion in decision-making and social dilemmas
Gratch, J. S., & de Melo, C. M. (2012) · Cited by 3
A conceptual model for generating and validating in-session clinical judgments
Jacinto, S., Lewis, C. C., Braga, J. N., & Scott, K. (2016) · Psychotherapy Research · doi:10.1080/10503307.2016.1169329 · Cited by 5
“Perhaps the most critical point is that individuals are unlikely to be aware of confirmation biases (Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
15 Defining Good Judging
Wistrich, A. J. (2010) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367584.003.0015 · Cited by 3
Separating isotope facts from fallacies: nuclear weapons proliferation in the eyes of three intelligence communities
Bollfrass, A. K. (2021) · Intelligence & National Security · doi:10.1080/02684527.2021.1992153 · Cited by 3
I’m Right, You’re Biased
Cheek, N. N., & Pronin, E. (2022) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197636916.003.0003 · Cited by 3
Pitch as a Recipient, Channel, and Context Factor Affecting Thought Reliance and Persuasion
Guyer, J. J., Briñol, P., Vaughan‐Johnston, T. I., Fabrigar, L. R., Moreno, L., Paredes, B., & Petty, R. E. (2023) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672231197547 · Cited by 4
“Second, if people perceive pitch to be a potential source of bias (i.e., a mental contamination that they believe should not affect their judgments; Petty & Wegener, 1993; Wilson & Brekke, 1994), they might attempt to correct this perceived bias by adjusting their evaluations.”
Background
Mood and fluency: The case of pronunciation ease, liking and trust
Löffler, C. S., Naber, D., Weiger, N., Zürn, M., Silva, R. R., Ingendahl, M., & Topolinski, S. (2024) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.3041 · Cited by 3
Bilans et perspectives en psychologie sociale
Schadron, G., & Morchain, P. (2008) · Presses universitaires de Grenoble eBooks · doi:10.3917/pug.joule.2008.01.0139 · Cited by 3
Understanding personalized persuasion strategies in implicit attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine: the moderating effects of personality traits based on an ERP study
Chen, X., Chen, C., Wang, Y., Yan, S., Mao, L., & Yu, G. (2024) · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-024-03720-z · Cited by 3
Psychology Instead of Ethics? Why Psychological Research Is Important but Cannot Replace Ethics
Triskiel, J. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-12053-5_4 · Cited by 4
Implicit Attitudes: Quantitative Semantic Misattribution Procedure
Lanbeck, N., Garcia, D., Amato, C., Olsson, A., & Sikström, S. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-37250-7_13 · Cited by 3
Surgeons' report cards, heuristics, biases and informed consent
Clarke, S. (2007) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511545467.014 · Cited by 3
Der M&A-Prozess: Struktur, Rationalitätsdefizite und die Rolle des Controllings
Eberl, S. (2008) · Controlling & Management · doi:10.1365/s12176-012-0232-x · Cited by 3
The Incompleteness of Ideal Theory
Schaub, J. (2014) · Res Publica · doi:10.1007/s11158-014-9255-9 · Cited by 3
Cognitive egocentrism differentiates warm and cold people
Boyd, R. L., Bresin, K., Ode, S. B., & Robinson, M. D. (2012) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2012.09.005 · Cited by 3
Detecting Perceiver Expectancies: The Role of Perceiver Distraction in Spontaneously Triggering Identity Negotiation
de Calvo, M. P. C., & Reich, D. A. (2009) · Basic and Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/01973530902880506 · Cited by 3
“However, it is important to note that correctioninducing variables, such as extremity and accuracymotivation, may not always lead to correction if perceivers do not have sufficient cognitive resources to correct for their biases (for a review, see Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
BackgroundInfluential
COGNITIVE RESTRUCTURING AND MENTAL CONTAMINATION: AN EMPIRICAL RE-CONCEPTUALIZATION
David, D. O., McMahon, J., Macavei, B., & Szentágotai, A. (2005) · Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1007/s10942-005-0002-1 · Cited by 3
“Concerning item-by-item IF, in natural communication, presenting information and then immediately instructing the subject to forget or remember it, would violate conversational norms of accuracy and relevance ( Wilson & Brekke, 1994 ).”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
Examining Marketing Journals' Publication Process and Reviewer Practices
Seiler, V. L., Reisenwitz, T. H., & Schibrowsky, J. (2011) · Marketing Education Review · doi:10.2753/mer1052-8008210305 · Cited by 3
SOURCE CONFUSION AS AN EXPLANATION OF CULTIVATION: A TEST OF THE MECHANISMS UNDERLYING CONFUSION OF FICTION WITH REALITY ON TELEVISION
Koolstra, C. M. (2007) · Perceptual and Motor Skills · doi:10.2466/pms.104.1.102-11 · Cited by 3
SOCIAL COGNITIVE HUMAN FACTORS OF AUTOMOBILE DRIVING
Mather, R. D. (2009) · Cited by 3
Exogenous shocks and misattribution of responsibility for economic performance: results from survey experiments
Campello, D., & Júnior, C. Z. (2015) · Cited by 3
«Give him five years!» - Influences of Partisan Hecklers on Judges' Sentencing Decisions
Englich, B. (2005) · Cited by 3
4 Persuasion in the Decision Making of U.S. Supreme Court Justices
Wrightsman, L. S. (2010) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367584.003.0004 · Cited by 3
Implicit Control of Stereotype Activation
Moskowitz, G. B., & Li, P. (2010) · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391381.003.0019 · Cited by 3
Re-Conceptualizing Expository Language as Narration
Petersen, D. B., & Petersen, J. W. (2016) · Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups · doi:10.1044/persp1.sig1.109 · Cited by 3
Rebound effects in persuasion: considering potential ironic effects of suppression and correction / Efectos rebote en la persuasión: una consideración de los posibles efectos irónicos de la supresión y la corrección
Silva, P. P., Garcia‐Marques, T., & Wegener, D. T. (2019) · International Journal of Social Psychology Revista de Psicología Social · doi:10.1080/02134748.2019.1649962 · Cited by 3
“This is because in order to calibrate judgments, people need to have enough motivation and ability to think about their own thought processes (Wegener & Petty, 1997; Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
Discretionary bonus pools, mutual monitoring, and employees’ influence activities: An experimental investigation
Elsinger, F. (2026) · Accounting Organizations and Society · doi:10.1016/j.aos.2026.101637 · Cited by 3
Consequences of how we define and assess intelligence.
Williams, W. M. (1996) · Psychology Public Policy and Law · doi:10.1037/1076-8971.2.3-4.506 · Cited by 4
Conceptual overlap between stimuli increases misattribution of internal experience
Ecker, Y., & Bar‐Anan, Y. (2019) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2019.03.006 · Cited by 3
An Investigation of Factors that Create and Mitigate Confirmation Bias in Judgments of Handwriting Evidence
Kukucka, J. (2014) · CUNY Academic Works (City University of New York) · Cited by 2
Accessibility and fit as determinants of the salience of social categorizations
Blanz, M. (1999) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-0992(199902)29:1 · Cited by 105
Reply to Morgan
Clayton, M. (2008) · Studies in Philosophy and Education · doi:10.1007/s11217-008-9102-6 · Cited by 3
“2 See, for example, Bargh and Chartrand (1999); Wilson and Brekke (1994) .”
Background
From mindless to mindful decision making: Reflecting on prescriptive processes
Huber, M. (2010) · CU Scholar (University of Colorado Boulder) · Cited by 3
Risk culture - a descriptive model
Paalanen, A. (2013) · Aaltodoc (Aalto University) · Cited by 3
Erratum zu: Ein theoretischer und empirischer Überblick über die Entwicklung von Stereotypen und ihre Konsequenzen im Schulkontext
Martiny, S. E., & Froehlich, L. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-27275-3_12 · Cited by 3
Debiasing the Courtroom: Using Behavioral Insights to Avoid and Mitigate Cognitive Biases
Yokum, D. V. (2014) · UA Campus Repository (The University of Arizona) · Cited by 3
Self-ControlPreprint
Hofmann, W. (2023) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/qm4xb · Cited by 3
Optimism and voluntary disclosure: A theory of corporate greenwashingPreprint
Manili, J. (2024) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4704323 · Cited by 4
Implications of relationship social comparison tendencies among dating and married individuals
White, G. (2010) · doi:10.17077/etd.1zypixh2 · Cited by 3
“…models suggest individuals can be influenced in a variety of ways that are uncontrollable and that people may exert control over their thoughts and emotions by correcting for these undesirable effects after they have occurred, rather than avoiding them from the start (Wilson & Brekke, 1994).”
Background
Everyone I Don’t Like Is Biased: Affective Evaluations and the Bias Blind Spot
Walker, A. C., Collins, R. N., Walker, H. E. K., Fugelsang, J. A., & Mandel, D. R. (2026) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672261439247 · Cited by 2
The continued influence of implied and explicitly stated misinformation with different emotional valence
Wenjuan, L., Yujie, H., Midi, Z., Zhaotong, Y., & Yuhua, D. (2024) · Journal of Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1080/20445911.2024.2325166 · Cited by 2
“Furthermore, according to the theory of mental contamination (Wilson & Brekke, 1993), the implied style may lead participants less unlikely to realise the existence of misinformation, so we hypothesised that (2) the expressive style may in ﬂ uence the CIE and the implied misinformation may be more…”
Background
Earnings Disclosures and Investor Judgments: The Joint Effect of Incidental Affect and Emotion‐Understanding Ability*
Wynes, M. J. (2025) · Accounting Perspectives · doi:10.1111/1911-3838.12406 · Cited by 2
Development and Evaluation of Cognitive and Behavioral Strategies to Improve Interventions in Reducing Nocebo Effects
Spotts, E. K., & Geers, A. L. (2025) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/spc3.70094 · Cited by 3
When migrants do not speak the host country’s language but need mental health care: A protocol for developing a communication intervention
Al-Kalaf, H., Jenks, C. J., Mösko, M., Sanders, T., & Schouten, B. C. (2025) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0338040 · Cited by 2
“According to the model, both systems influence behaviour, but the reflective system typically leads to more enduring and rational attitude changes [43,48].”

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

Overview

Integrity signals

Verification

Claims the paper makes

Claims other papers make about this one

Citations

Cites

Cited by

Related

Metadata

Record

About these checks