Ease-of-Retrieval Heuristic in Risk Assessment
Ease of retrieval can influence a judgment alongside the information recalled. Rothman and Schwarz (1998) found that male undergraduates without a family history of heart disease showed a pattern consistent with relying on recall difficulty, while those with a family history responded more to the content of the recalled behaviors.
THE IDEA
Assessing One’s Vulnerability to Heart Disease
To examine how personal relevance affects judgment, Rothman and Schwarz (1998) asked male undergraduates to list either 3 or 8 behaviors that they personally engage in that may either increase or decrease their risk of heart disease. Pretests indicated that listing 3 behaviors was experienced as easy, whereas listing 8 was experienced as difficult. The personal relevance of the task was assessed via a background characteristic; namely, whether participants had a family history of heart disease. Supposedly, assessing their own risk of heart disease is a more relevant task for males whose family history puts them at higher risk than for males without a family history of heart disease. Hence, participants with a family history of heart disease should be likely to adopt a systematic processing strategy, paying attention to the specific behaviors brought to mind by the recall task. In contrast, participants without a family history may rely on a heuristic strategy, drawing on the subjective experience of ease or difficulty of recall.
As shown in Table 5.5, the results supported these predictions. The top panel shows participants’ self-reported vulnerability to heart disease. As expected, males with a family history of heart disease drew on the relevant behavioral information they recalled. Hence, they reported higher vulnerability after recalling 8 rather than 3 risk-increasing behaviors, and lower vulnerability after recalling 8 rather than 3 risk-decreasing behaviors. In contrast, males without a family history of heart disease drew on the experience of ease or difficulty of recall, resulting in the opposite pattern. They reported lower vulnerability after recalling 8 (difficult) rather than 3 (easy) risk-increasing behaviors, and higher vulnerability after recalling 8 rather than 3 risk-decreasing behaviors.
When to use it
Recognizing when recall difficulty is influencing a judgment about personal health risk.
Checking whether a product assessment depends on the reviews available or merely those that come to mind easily.
Reviewing whether memorable investment successes or failures are crowding out the full record.
Comparing a judgment about crime frequency with relevant data rather than relying only on memorable news stories.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Heart Disease Vulnerability Study
Rothman and Schwarz (1998) asked male undergraduates to list either 3 (easy) or 8 (difficult) behaviors that increase or decrease their heart disease risk. For participants without a family history (low personal relevance), ease of recall drove judgments: they reported lower vulnerability after recalling 8 difficult risk-increasing behaviors and higher vulnerability after recalling 8 difficult risk-decreasing behaviors. Those with a family history relied on the content of recalled behaviors, showing the opposite pattern.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Can you recall a situation where you judged something based on how easy it was to remember examples? Was that judgment accurate?
How might the ease-of-retrieval heuristic affect your perception of health risks when you hear many news stories about a rare disease?
Think of a time when you personally felt a decision was influenced by the difficulty of coming up with reasons for or against it. What would have happened if you had focused on the reasons themselves?
Often confused with
References
- Rothman & Schwarz, 1998 — Rothman, A. J. & Schwarz, N. (1998)
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Heuristics and Biases The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment (Thomas Gilovich, Dale Griffin, Daniel Kahneman)