Jessica M. Choplin's Research
banner of magnitude examples

Verbal Comparisons  |  Perceptual Comparisons  |  Numerical Cognition

I study magnitude evaluation, sometimes called quantifying judgments.  How big is something?  How expensive is that price?  How large is that portion?  How happy am I?  How fat am I?  These judgments have direct implications for decision-making and well-being. For example, evaluations of price and other consumer-product attributes affect the decisions people make as consumers and, in turn, how satisfied they are with the products they buy (e.g., Choplin & Hummel, 2002, 2005; Huber et al., 1982; Wedell & Pettibone, 1996). Evaluations of people's own personal attributes informed by social comparisons (e.g., Festinger, 1954; Lavine, Sweeney, & Wagner, 1999; Morse & Gergen, 1970; Mussweiler, 2003; Wedell & Parducci, 2000) affect how people see themselves on any personal attribute one might imagine. Evaluations of food intake (e.g., Riskey, Parducci, & Beauchamp, 1979; Schifferstein & Frijters, 1992; Wansink, 2004) affect people's dietary decisions and the health consequences of those decisions. Subjective evaluations of well-being (Kahneman, 1999; Parducci, 1995; Schwarz & Strack, 1999) often affect actual well-being.


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