EXAMINING GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL APPROACHES TO STRATEGY USE IN FREQUENCY JUDGMENTS

Abstract

How do people make frequency judgments? One account describes how the strategy used during the memory retrieval process influences frequency judgments. The strategy that is evoked depends on the to-be judged event (Brown, 1995; 1997). Specifically, enumeration strategies were used when multiple exemplars were paired with a category. Non-enumeration strategies occurred when a single exemplar was paired with a category. Two experiments investigated the consistency with which different strategies were employed based on the characteristics of the to-be judged event. Group-level and individual-level analyses were used to examine the degree that a given strategy occurred. Analyses at the individual-level allowed for the investigation of whether the strategies observed at the group-level were consistent across individuals in the group. Exemplar typicality (typical or atypical) was manipulated within the to-be judged events to determine whether typicality played a role in strategy use and frequency judgments. Group-level analyses revealed evidence of enumeration in multiple-exemplar conditions. However, individual-level analyses revealed that few participants engaged in enumeration indicating that the group results were driven by a small number of participants. Exemplar typicality did not reliably affect strategy use or frequency judgments. Implications of using group-level and individual-level analyses are discussed.