Response Scale Ambiguity as a Moderator of the Choice Shift
- 1 August 1989
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Communication Research
- Vol. 16 (4) , 532-551
- https://doi.org/10.1177/009365089016004004
Abstract
The vast majority of choice shift inquiry employs choice dilemma (CD) items. In the main, responses to CD items are scaled by asking participants to report the odds of the risky response being successful before they would attempt it. Recent research challenges the validity of the odds scale. This article reports the results of two experiments that demonstrate that response scale ambiguity influences the interpretation of choice shift processes. Specifically, response scale ambiguity moderates the impact of social comparison and persuasive arguments processes. The former is more potent when the ambiguous odds scale is used, whereas the latter exerts a stronger impact when the less ambiguous Likert scale is employed.Keywords
This publication has 40 references indexed in Scilit:
- Risky and cautious decision shifts in small groupsSouthern Speech Communication Journal, 1979
- Group discussion and the stingy shift.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1974
- Informational influence in group discussionOrganizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1974
- Interpersonal comparison versus persuasive argumentation: A more direct test of alternative explanations for group-induced shifts in individual choiceJournal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1973
- Testing two classes of theories about group induced shifts in individual choiceJournal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1973
- Subjective estimates of own relative riskiness and risk taking following a group discussionOrganizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1972
- Risk-as-value hypothesis: The relationship between perception of self, others, and the risky shift.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1971
- Individual commitment to risky and conservative choices as a determinant of shifts in group decisions1Journal of Personality, 1971
- Publicity of initial decisions and the risky shift phenomenonJournal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1970
- Where is the risky shift? Dependence on instructions.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1969