Where did 1850 happen first - In America or in Europe? A cognitive account for an historical bias

Moshinsky, Avital; Bar-Hillel, Maya

doi:10.1037/e683322011-067

Cited by 1 publication

(3 citation statements)

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“…We conducted another experiment using a different design, which called for the dating, rather than ordering, of the 80 target events of Experiment 1. This additional experiment also confirmed the EAB, but cannot be described here because of space limitations (see, however,Moshinsky & Bar-Hillel, 2000).3. For studies involving autobiographical events, see, for example,Badde- ley, Lewis, and Nimmo-Smith (1978);Linton (1975);Loftus and Marburger (1983);Rubin and Baddeley (1989);Thompson, Skowronski, and Betz (1993); andThompson, Skowronski, and Lee (1988).…”

supporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Experiments 2: Is the Eab A Memory Effect?supporting

confidence: 55%

“…Because of space limitations, we do not report here the study we did to check our respondents' knowledge of American versus European historical events (a full report can be found in Moshinsky & Bar-Hillel, 2000), except to say that, if anything, the European events enjoyed a slight and insignificant advantage. Thus, the accessibility principle no more underlies the EAB empirically than it does normatively.…”

Section: Experiments 2: Is the Eab A Memory Effect?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Where Did 1850 Happen First—In America or in Europe? A Cognitive Account for a Historical Bias

Moshinsky

Bar-Hillel

2002

Psychol Sci

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A professor of history at The Hebrew University noted that his students were often surprised to learn that some event in America happened at about the same time as another in Europe, because the American event seemed to them to have happened more recently. We confirmed the validity, of this anecdotal observation experimentally, and offer an explanation. We discuss how this bias may be an effect of judgment, rather than memory. We then show experimentally that students like those who demonstrated the bias regarded America as the New World, as opposed to Europe's Old World. Our theoretical account, based on judgment by representativeness, posits that if one category is deemed more X than another (e.g., American history is deemed more "recent" than European history), then its members will be judged more X than members of the other, ceteris paribus. Hence, an American historical event will appear more recent than a contemporaneous European event.