Explaining bias in teacher ratings of behavior alteration techniques: An experimental test of the heuristic processing account

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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the heuristic processing account of likelihood‐of‐use ratings for message strategies, an account offered to explain the problematically high correlation between the rated likelihood of use of message items and the rated social appropriateness of those items. The heuristic processing explanation was tested by manipulating the conditions which evoke heuristic information processing. Respondents in a control group provided likelihood‐of‐use ratings to Kearney et al. ‘s checklist of Behavior Alteration Techniques under standard instructions while those in the experimental group rated messages under conditions intended to decrease heuristic information processing. The decreased heuristic processing treatment altered the pattern of respondents' likelihood‐of‐use ratings such that (a) the association between likelihood‐of‐use ratings and the perceived politeness of checklist items was significantly (p < .05) smaller in the experimental condition than the control condition, (b) respondents in the experimental condition endorsed fewer polite items than those in the control condition, and (c) respondents in the experimental condition endorsed more impolite items than those in the control condition. The implications of these results for the assessment and study of message behavior are discussed.

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