诊断定义
诊断性refers to the extent to which a source of data can discriminate between a particular hypothesis and its alternatives. In social situations, individuals often observe others’ behaviors and attempt to form an impression about their personality and aptitudes. As part of this process, individuals test dispositional hypotheses, namely, hypotheses regarding others’ traits and abilities. Diagnostic sources of data are those that discriminate between possessing a particular trait or ability and not possessing the trait or ability.
例如,考虑一个新同学约翰没有回应您的欢迎问候的情况,您想知道他是什么样的人。您可以产生一个假设(例如,“约翰是不友好的”),收集信息以检验该假设,并根据可用信息提出推论。发现约翰“对公开的同学大喊大叫”是高度诊断的信息,因为除非约翰是一个不友好的人,否则这种行为不太可能发生。发现约翰不喜欢政党的诊断价值很小。这些信息无法区分约翰不友好的假设和他害羞的合理替代假设,因为不友好和害羞可能会导致约翰不喜欢党派。
诊断背景
When testing a dispositional hypothesis, one of two broad strategies, distinguished by the extent to which individuals consider alternatives to their chosen hypothesis, may be undertaken. One strategy, called diagnostic hypothesis testing, is employed when individuals search for evidence that bears on both the plausibility of their focal hypothesis as well as on the plausibility of its alternatives. By this strategy, individuals gather information that can distinguish between their chosen hypothesis and alternative ones. Once sufficient information has been gathered, their confidence in their conclusion is high only if the evidence is largely consistent with the chosen hypothesis and inconsistent with its alternatives.
与诊断测试相反,第二种策略称为假诊断假设检验,涉及仅根据其与所选假设的一致性进行收集和使用信息。替代假设被忽略,或者简单地假定与焦点假设一致的信息与其替代方案不一致。在上一个示例中,个人只会询问约翰的不友好行为,而不是关于他的害羞行为。然后,他们将根据证据与不友好的人一致的程度得出结论,而无需考虑这些证据是否也与诸如害羞的人之类的其他可能性一致。与诊断测试相比,假诊断策略是简单,快速且相对轻松的。但是,当证据既与局灶性假设及其替代方案都一致时,伪诊断测试可能会导致确认偏见,即,当实际上替代假设可能是正确的,证据支持证据支持一个人所选择的假设的信心。
诊断证据
Yaacov Trope及其同事的研究表明,在测试假设时,个人对诊断性问题很敏感。也就是说,他们在搜索有关选定假设的信息时考虑了替代假设,并在提出推论时将证据权衡与这些替代方案相对。例如,当个人测试目标人是一个外向的假设时,他们宁愿问有关高度诊断性内向行为的问题(安静),以了解有关较弱的诊断性外向行为(从事运动活动)以及测试假设的问题目标人是一个性格内向的人,他们更喜欢关于高度诊断性外向行为(友好)而不是虚弱的内向行为(听古典音乐)的问题。当这些问题的答案提供了更多诊断证据时,他们也对自己的推论更有信心。
However, individuals do not always engage in diagnostic hypothesis testing. Whether individuals will engage in diagnostic or pseudodiagnostic strategies depends on cognitive and motivational resources. When individuals are distracted, their cognitive resources to process information are limited. Similarly, when individuals do not have incentive to reach an accurate conclusion, their motivational resources are low. Under such suboptimal conditions, individuals tend to perform pseudodiagnostic testing. Thus, if individuals are not motivated to reach an accurate conclusion or when they have other things on their mind, they will select and use information that only bears on their chosen hypothesis and ignore information relevant to alternative hypotheses.
诊断性对处置偏差的影响
在许多现实生活中,个人的行为是通过情境约束而确定的,而不是通过他们的个人性格来确定。诸如团体压力,社会规范和情境压力源之类的因素会影响个人的行为方式。例如,一个人可能会在强烈挑衅的情况下做出积极的反应,而不管该人对性格友好还是不友好。诊断性假设的诊断测试认为个人处置(局部假设)和情境约束(替代假设)是人行为的潜在原因。因此,使用诊断策略的个人不会将行为归因于相应的处置,当存在某种方式以某种方式行事时。For example, if John’s reaction to your greetings occurred while he was in a hurry to class, then under diagnostic inference this behavior would not be attributed to dispositional unfriendliness since most individuals in this situation would behave in such a way regardless of whether or not they are friendly.
相比之下,假诊断测试忽略了替代假设,因此,在确定人的行为时可能无法为情境诱导提供适当的权重。在伪诊断测试下,约翰的行为仍然归因于倾向的不友好,因为大多数人,不仅是那些不友好的人,当很少考虑的情况下,大多数人都会以这种方式行事。因此,假诊断测试可能会产生偏见的偏见,从而从他人的行为中得出的个人。当个人的处理和动机资源耗尽时,这尤其可能。在这种情况下,个人很可能依靠假诊断测试,并得出结论,当一个人的直接行为反映了当其他情况解释不少,甚至更有可能的情况下,就反映了他或她相应的个人性格。
自我评估中的诊断性
Diagnostic and nondiagnostic testing strategies are relevant to questions about one’s own dispositions and skills as well. Yet, when a person searches for information bearing on one’s own attributes, other motivations besides reaching an accurate conclusion might play a role. Researchers have proposed three types of motives that guide testing of self-relevant information.
一种动机是自我增强,即保持有利的自我观点,因此寻求积极的反馈,并避免就自我相关属性进行负面反馈。第二个动机是自我验证,即确认先前存在的自我观点的动机。这两种动机将导致个人寻求可能对其能力和个性特征的非诊断的信息。也就是说,当自我增强目标指导自我相关的信息处理时,个人只会接受可以增强自尊心的信息,而可能避免或拒绝可能暴露其负债的信息。同样,当自我验证目标指导自我相关的信息处理时,个人只会接受可以肯定其现有自我视图的信息,无论是正面还是负面,而不管其诊断性如何,这些信息将被忽略。
指导自我相关的信息处理的第三种动机是自我评估,即,保持准确的自我观察的动机,可以帮助人们预测未来决策和自我支持尝试的结果。当自我评估目标调节行为时,个人会更喜欢诊断信息,而不管其正面还是负面的信息。自我评估也可能导致执行中间的困难任务。这些任务是对一个人能力的诊断,因为成功的可能性更大,而失败的可能性更低。简单或困难的任务是非诊断的,因为无论一个人的能力水平如何,在简单的任务上的成功和失败很可能是很可能。
As in dispositional hypothesis testing, whether one will engage in diagnostic testing of self-relevant information depends on cognitive and motivational factors. Individuals are more likely to seek diagnostic feedback when they perceive the feedback as pertaining to changeable abilities rather than fixed abilities. This is particularly true for individuals who are uncertain or think that their ability is relatively low. Another factor that has been found to facilitate diagnostic self-assessment is positive mood. Individuals in a positive mood seek positive as well as negative feedback. In contrast, individuals in a neutral or negative mood tend to prefer positive, self-enhancing feedback. It has been proposed that positive mood buffers against the immediate emotional costs of negative feedback and attunes individuals to the long-term, learning benefits of diagnostic feedback.
参考:
- Trope,Y.,Ferguson,M。和Raghunathan,R。(2001)。情绪作为处理自我相关的信息的资源。在J. P. Forgas(编辑)中,《情感与社会认知手册》(第256-274页)。新泽西州马瓦(Mahwah):埃尔鲍姆(Erlbaum)。
- Trope,Y.,Gervey,B。,&Bolger,N。(2003)。感知控制在克服防御性自我评估中的作用。实验社会心理学杂志,39,407-419。
- Trope, Y., & Liberman, A. (1996). Social hypothesis testing: Cognitive and motivational mechanisms. In E. T. Higgins & A. W. Kruglanski (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 239-270). New York: Guilford Press.
- Trope,Y。,&Mackie,D。(1987)。对社会假设中的替代方案的敏感性。实验社会心理学杂志,23,445-459。