The dynamic interactive pattern of assimilation and contrast: Accounting for standard extremity in comparative evaluations

Social judgments are often influenced by comparison to some standard in the environment, either moving judgment closer (assimilating) or away (contrasting) from this standard. Which direction effect will take depends heavily on relative standing of these standards dimension compared target judgment. In previous research, items and were selected arbitrarily, ignoring simplifying their influence substantially. The current work takes a fine-grained holistic curve fitting approach measure response patterns across wide range extremities, showing that narrower can pose limits generalizability validity inferences. A series 8 experiments (N = 4304) uncovered dynamic interactive pattern between assimilative contrastive forces average, which proved sensitive item level variation (1a, b & c), but showed stability at facial dimensions (2a b). Finally, it revealed how offer new insights into role other moderating variables, such as focusing similarities versus differences (3a b) cross-category (4), traditional approaches may miss. Implications for study design theory discussed.