THE MORE, THE BETTER? MISALIGNMENT BETWEEN ACTUAL AND PERCEIVED EFFICACY OF A DISAGGREGATE APPROACH TO MULTIPLE-CUE EVALUATIONS

When performing an evaluation involves assessing multiple items of information about a target, evaluators can choose between two opposing strategies: reviewing all target information at once and forming an overall evaluation (a holistic approach) or reviewing each item of information independently and combining these independent reviews into an overall evaluation (a disaggregate approach). In four incentivized, pre-registered, online studies (N = 1,708), we compared the accuracy of these opposing approaches and people’s beliefs about which approach yields more accurate estimates. Across two experiments using different evaluative domains, we demonstrated that people make more accurate estimates using a disaggregate (vs. holistic) approach. However, a survey revealed that people anticipate greater accuracy with a holistic approach. Critically, we found that a brief training on the “wisdom of crowds” increases people’s preference for a disaggregate approach. We contribute to research on the wisdom of crowds and intuitive preferences for information and averaging.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S., Industrial and Labor Relations

Level thesis:degree_level

Master of Science

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Industrial and Labor Relations

Grantor

Cornell University

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Zhang, Xingruo

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Lucas, Brian
• Proudfoot, Devon

• averaging
• blinding
• estimates
• wisdom of crowds

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7298/2zh4-ya16

Dc Identifier Other

ProQuest Submission ID: 12447
ProQuest Publication ID: 32040884

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ecommons.cornell.edu:1813/117493