A meta-analysis assessed whether exposure to information is guided by
defense or accuracy motives. The studies examined information preferences in
relation to attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors in situations that provided
choices between congenial information, which supported participants'
pre-existing attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors, and uncongenial information,
which challenged these tendencies. Analyses indicated a moderate preference for
congenial over uncongenial information (d. = 0.36). As
predicted, this congeniality bias was moderated by variables that affect the
strength of participants' defense motivation and accuracy motivation. In support
of the importance of defense motivation, the congeniality bias was weaker when
participants' attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors were supported prior to
information selection, when participants' attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors were
not relevant to their values or not held with conviction, when the available
information was low in quality, when participants' closed-mindedness was low,
and when their confidence in the attitude, belief, or behavior was high. In
support of the importance of accuracy motivation, an uncongeniality bias emerged
when uncongenial information was relevant to accomplishing a current goal.
The current research examined whether nations differ in their attitudes toward action and inaction. It was anticipated that members of dialectical East Asian societies would show a positive association in their attitudes toward action/inaction. However, members of non-dialectical European-American societies were expected to show a negative association in their attitudes toward action/inaction. Young adults in 19 nations completed measures of dialectical thinking and attitudes toward action/inaction. Results from multi-level modeling showed, as predicted, that people from high dialecticism nations reported a more positive association in their attitudes toward action and inaction than people from low dialecticism nations. Furthermore, these findings remained after controlling for cultural differences in individualism-collectivism, neuroticism, gross-domestic product, and response style. Discussion highlights the implications of these findings for action/inaction goals, dialecticism, and culture.
A random effects meta-analysis of the results from 15 projects involving price reduction and 9 projects involving increased service frequency showed that both price reduction and increased service frequency generated public transport travels. On average, the increased service frequency projects generated more travels by public transport than the price reduction projects. In the increased service frequency projects the proportion of travels generated by the increased frequency was strongly influenced by the size of the frequency increase. In the price reduction projects, we did not find a significant effect of the size of the price reduction on the proportion of travels generated by the price reduction. Finding that people's use of public transport was related to the extent of the service offered suggests they have a need for transport that can be fulfilled with public transport. Although people appreciate lower fares in general, finding that use of public transport was not significantly related to the size of a price change suggests the effect of price change is uncertain.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.