Ease of Retrieval Heuristic
The ease with which information comes to mind influences judgments, leading people to infer that if something is hard to recall, they must possess little of that trait. This metacognitive heuristic can be overridden when the ease of recall is attributed to external factors, causing people to rely more on the content of what is recalled.
THE IDEA
Undermining the Diagnosticity of the Recall Experience
To provide this evidence, Schwarz et al. (1991, Experiment 3) manipulated the perceived informational value of the experienced ease or difficulty of recall through misattribution manipulations. Specifically, they had participants listen to new-age music played at half-speed while they worked on the recall task. Some participants were told that this music would facilitate the recall of situations in which they behaved assertively and felt at ease, whereas others were told that it would facilitate the recall of situations in which they behaved unassertively and felt insecure. These manipulations render participants’ recall experiences uninformative whenever the experience matches the alleged impact of the music; after all, it may simply be easy or difficult because of the music. In contrast, experiences that are opposite to the alleged impact of the music should be considered highly informative.
Table 5.3. Self-Reports of Assertiveness as a Function of Valence, Number of Recalled Behaviors, and Diagnosticity of Ease of Recall
The table values are not included in this excerpt; the text below describes the results.
Note: N is 9 or 10 per condition. Mean score of two questions is given; possible range is 1 to 9, with higher values reflecting higher assertiveness. Adapted from Schwarz, Bless, Strack, Klumpp, Rittenauer-Schatka, and Simons (1991, Experiment 3).
When the informational value of participants’ experienced ease or difficulty of recall was not called into question, the previously obtained results replicated. As shown in the left panel (high diagnosticity), these participants evaluated themselves as less assertive after recalling 12 rather than 6 examples of assertive behavior, and as more assertive after recalling 12 rather than 6 examples of unassertive behavior. As in the previous study, they apparently concluded from the experienced difficulty of recall that they cannot be that assertive (or unassertive) if it is so difficult to recall 12 relevant examples.
Not so, however, when their subjective experiences of ease or difficulty of recall matched the alleged side effects of the music. In this case, the meaning of the subjective experience is ambiguous, and participants turned to a more informative source of information: the content they had just recalled. As shown in the right panel (low diagnosticity), these participants reported higher assertiveness after recalling 12 rather than 6 examples of assertive behavior, and lower assertiveness after recalling 12 rather than 6 examples of unassertive behavior, thus reversing the otherwise obtained pattern.
When to use it
When evaluating your own skills, consider whether the difficulty to recall examples is informative or due to irrelevant factors like mood or distraction.
In market research, asking customers to list a few vs. many positive features of a product can shift their satisfaction judgments based on ease of retrieval.
In cognitive therapy, challenging the perceived diagnosticity of ease of recall can help patients reframe negative self-assessments (e.g., 'Just because I can easily recall failures doesn't mean I am a failure').
In decision-making, consciously think about whether the ease of recalling certain information is diagnostic or a result of salience, recency, or external influences.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Experiment on Assertiveness Judgments
Participants recalled 6 or 12 examples of assertive or unassertive behavior. Recalling 12 was harder. When that difficulty seemed informative, people inferred that they possessed less of the trait they were trying to recall. When the music offered an explanation for the difficulty, judgments instead followed the content recalled, reversing the pattern.
Everyday Self-Evaluation
When asked 'Are you a decisive person?', if you struggle to recall three decisive moments, you might conclude you lack decisiveness. However, if you attribute the difficulty to being in a tired state, the ease of recall loses its diagnostic value.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Think of a recent judgment about yourself (e.g., 'I am not very organized') that was influenced by how easy or hard it was to recall examples. How might your judgment change if the difficulty was due to an external factor?
In what situations have you used the ease of retrieval to assess the frequency or likelihood of an event? What biases could arise from this?
How could you design a study to test whether people rely on ease of retrieval versus content recall in a different domain (e.g., judging kindness)?
Often confused with
References
- Ease of retrieval as information: Another look at the availability heuristic — Schwarz, N., Bless, H., Strack, F., Klumpp, G., Rittenauer-Schatka, H., & Simons, A. (1991)
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Heuristics and Biases The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment (Thomas Gilovich, Dale Griffin, Daniel Kahneman)