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Biased Reasoning: Adaptive Responses to Health Risk Feedback

University of Greifswald, Germany

The present study examined reactions toward repeated selfrelevant feedback. Participants in a community health screening received feedback about their cholesterol level on two separate occasions. Reactions to the first feedback were examined with regard to feedback valence and expectedness. The findings showed that negative feedback was devalued, but only when it was unexpected. Feedback consistency was incorporated into analyses of the second feedback. Again, results showed that negative feedback was not always devalued—only when it was inconsistent with the first feedback. Furthermore, positive feedback was not unconditionally accepted. When receiving unexpected positive feedback of low consistency, recipients were doubtful about its accuracy. Conversely, expected positive feedback was accepted regardless of its consistency. These results suggest that negative or unexpected positive feedbacks evoke greater sensitivity to feedback consistency, indicating elaborate cognitive processing. Theoretical accounts of these findings are discussed.

Key Words: risk perception • expectations • motivation • feedback • reasoning

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 30, No. 3, 384-396 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167203261296


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