Judgements and memory

大多数判断（例如，一台计算机是否昂贵）要么是隐含的，要么是明确的比较。本研究的目标是通过对希金斯及其同事最初创建的标准变化（COS）范式的修改，扩展对这种比较及其对认知的其他方面，特别是记忆的影响的研究。当一个项目在一个环境中被判断，但必须在不同的环境中被召回、识别或以其他方式使用时，就会发生COS效应。想象一下，例如，做一个人事评估。员工X在评估时的表现优于其他员工。随着时间的流逝，你进行了其他的评估。现在，你试着回忆员工X在某些特定指标上的实际表现（比如，总销售额）。你记得最多的是X是个好员工，所以你记得X的总销售额高于平均水平。但是，这是准确的吗？这取决于你记忆中的平均值是更高，更低，还是与你最初判断员工X是一名好员工的背景相同。我在这个主题上的工作有可能确定在这些领域中记忆运作的基本原则，并导致在现实生活领域的重要应用，如人事评估。

Most judgments (e.g., whether a computer is expensive) are either implicitly or explicitly comparative. The goal of the present proposal is to extend the investigation of such comparisons and their effects on other aspects of cognition, particularly memory, using a modification of the Change of Standard (COS) paradigm originally created by Higgins and colleagues. COS effects occur when an item is judged in one context, but must be recalled, recognized, or otherwise used in a different context. Imagine, for example, doing a personnel assessment. Employee X is better than the other employees at the time of the assessment. Time goes by and you perform other assessments. Now, you try to recall the Employee X's actual performance on some particular measure (say, total sales). What you mostly remember is that X is a good employee, so you recall X as having higher than average total sales. But, is this accurate?  It depends on whether the average you remember is higher, lower, or the same as the context in which you originally judged Employee X to be a good employee. My work on this topic has the potential to identify fundamental principles of memory operating in such domains, as well as to lead to important applications to real life areas, such as personnel assessment.