Smooth trajectories travel farther into the future: Perceptual fluency effects on prediction of trend continuation

Julie Y. Huang, Hyunjin Song, John A. Bargh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

This research examines how processing fluency influences people's perceptions of whether a trend will continue into the future. Specifically, three studies hypothesized that people who read descriptions of increasing or decreasing trends in easy-to-read font would be more likely to predict that the trend would continue into the future, compared to people exposed to difficult-to-read font. Studies 1 and 2 establish this effect for an increasing trend, whereas Study 3 replicates the findings with a decreasing trend. Taken together, these results suggest processing fluency as a factor that affects assessment of future potential.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)506-508
Number of pages3
JournalJournal of Experimental Social Psychology
Volume47
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2011

Keywords

  • Fluency
  • Potential
  • Prediction

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Sociology and Political Science

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