Attribute Substitution
Attribute substitution is a cognitive process where people answer a difficult question by substituting an easier related question, often without awareness. This heuristic underlies many biases and is commonly observed in judgments under uncertainty.
THE IDEA
ATTRIBUTE SUBSTITUTION
Early research on the representativeness and availability heuristics was guided by a simple and general hypothesis: When confronted with a difficult question people often answer an easier one instead, usually without being aware of the substitution. A person who is asked “What proportion of long-distance relationships break up within a year?” may answer as if she had been asked “Do instances of swift breakups of long-distance relationships come readily to mind?” This would be an application of the availability heuristic. A professor who has heard a candidate’s job talk and now considers the question “How likely is it that this candidate could be tenured in our department?” may answer the much easier question: “How impressive was the talk?” This would be an example of the representativeness heuristic.
The heuristics and biases research program has focused primarily on representativeness and availability – two versatile attributes that are automatically computed and can serve as candidate answers to many different questions. It has also focused on thinking under uncertainty. However, the restriction to particular heuristics and to a specific context is largely arbitrary. We will say that judgment is mediated by a heuristic when an individual assesses a specified target attribute of a judgment object by substituting another property of that object – the heuristic attribute – which comes more readily to mind. Many judgments are made by this process of attribute substitution. For an example, consider the well-known study by Strack, Martin, & Schwarz (1988), in which college students answered a survey that included these two questions: “How happy are you with your life in general?” and “How many dates did you have last month?” The correlation between the two questions was negligible when they occurred in the order shown, but it rose to 0.66 when the dating question was asked first. We suggest that thinking about the dating question automatically evokes an affectively charged evaluation of one’s satisfaction in that domain of life, which lingers to become the heuristic attribute when the happiness question is subsequently encountered. The observed value of 0.66 certainly underestimates the true correlation between the target and heuristic attributes, because dating frequency is not a perfect proxy for romantic satisfaction and because of measurement error in all variables. The results suggest that respondents had little besides love on their mind when they evaluated their overall well-being.
When to use it
Hiring: When interviewing candidates, avoid being overly influenced by a single strong or weak performance, which may substitute for a more comprehensive evaluation.
Survey design: Be cautious about question order effects that can trigger attribute substitution and skew results.
Self-assessment: When evaluating your own happiness or success, check if you are substituting an easily accessible aspect (e.g., recent events) for a broader evaluation.
Medical decision-making: Doctors should be aware that a patient's demeanor might substitute for a thorough diagnostic assessment.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Long-distance relationships breakups
When asked 'What proportion of long-distance relationships break up within a year?' people may substitute the easier question 'Do instances of swift breakups of long-distance relationships come readily to mind?'
Job candidate tenure prediction
A professor asked 'How likely is it that this candidate could be tenured?' may substitute with 'How impressive was the talk?'
Dating and happiness survey
In a study by Strack, Martin, & Schwarz (1988), students answered 'How happy are you with your life in general?' and 'How many dates did you have last month?' When the dating question came first, the correlation between the two answers increased significantly, indicating attribute substitution.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Think of a recent decision you made that involved a difficult question. Did you substitute an easier question? What was the result?
How might attribute substitution affect your assessments of people you meet for the first time?
In what ways can awareness of attribute substitution help you make more accurate judgments?
References
- Strack, Martin, & Schwarz (1988) study on attribute substitution — Strack, F., Martin, L. L., & Schwarz, N. (1988)
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Heuristics and Biases The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment (Thomas Gilovich, Dale Griffin, Daniel Kahneman)