Did you witness demonic possession? A response time analysis of the relationship between event plausibility and autobiographical beliefs.
Gilana Mazzoni
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review April 1, 2007 DOI: 10.3758/bf03194064 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Undergraduate students |
| Keywords | Humans Parapsychology Reaction time Religion and psychology Culture Adult Female Autobiographies as topic |
| Key findings | Response times for judging whether an event happened in childhood were more strongly associated with the event's judged plausibility than with belief in the event, and the association held when belief ratings were controlled. Response times were very short for highly implausible events and increased sharply once events were judged at least somewhat plausible, supporting the authors' hypothesis that a preliminary plausibility assessment precedes the search for autobiographical information. |
Abstract
This study tested the hypothesis that the search for information pertinent to answering the question "Did event x happen to you?" is preceded by a preliminary plausibility assessment, the outcome of which affects the amount of effort invested in the search. Undergraduate students were asked to assess the plausibility of six events and subsequently to rate their belief that each event had happened to them before the age of 6. Unknown to them, response times (RTs) for answering the belief questions were also recorded. RTs for making belief judgments were more highly correlated with plausibility than with belief, and were significantly associated with plausibility even when belief ratings were controlled. As predicted, RTs were very short when the event was deemed highly implausible and increased sharply if the event was deemed at least somewhat plausible; significant but less pronounced increases in RTs followed as plausibility increased further.