STUDENT RESEaRch SympoSiUm 2010 - Graduate and Research ...

AbstrActs
political continuum (left-right), remains the core forecaster in Chilean
elections. Conclusions. There are clear patterns of support
for each of the competing coalitions. The Concertación captured
more votes from people that identified as closer to the left on the
political self-identification continuum, and that had a middle class
socioeconomic standing. The Alianza had a larger support from
voters that identified with the right on the political self-identification
continuum, and that tended to be higher in the socioeconomic
rating. Likewise, each of the four candidates competing in the
election had their own bases of support. Arrate got more votes
from the younger and wealthier. Enríquez-Ominami got more votes
from younger, middle income and less government inclined voters.
Frei got more votes from older, poorer pro-government voters.
Piñera got more votes from people inclined to prefer a smaller and
more conservative government.
Session D-5
Oral Presentation: Social Psychology
Saturday, March 5, 2010, 8:00 am
Location: Chantico
#385 8:00
Predicting Stock Success: Company Name Complexity,
Processing Fluency, and Consumer Confidence
Carly Hennessy, Psychology (U)
David Armor, Psychology
In an influential paper, Alter and Oppenheimer (2006) report
that investors are biased by the phonetic complexity of a stock
company’s name, expecting that simply-named companies will
outperform complexly-named companies. They interpreted this
finding in terms of processing fluency, arguing that (a) complex
names are disfluent, and thus more difficult to process than
simple names, (b) disfluency is interpreted negatively, leading to
more negative performance evaluations, and (c) inferences based
on processing fluency (such as of a company’s familiarity) influence
performance predictions. However, Alter and Oppenheimer
did not test these hypotheses directly, leaving their interpretation
open to question. The aims of the present studies are (1) to provide
direct tests of the processing fluency interpretation and (2)
to examine an alternative hypothesis: that the name-complexity
effect may be explained by people’s beliefs about the market
benefits of simple names. Study 1 tested the name-complexity
and processing-fluency hypotheses by asking participants (N=95)
to estimate the future performance of 14 fictitious company
names: half were simple (e.g., Barnings) and half were complex
(e.g., Xagibdan). In the control condition, which closely resembled
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Alter and Oppenheimer’s (2006) experiment, the effects of name
complexity were replicated: Participants predicted that simplynamed
companies (M=7.2%) would significantly outperform
complexly-named companies (M=-4.6%). However, results
from three additional conditions failed to support fluency-based
predictions: (1) drawing attention to the source of disfluency
(i.e., pronounceability) did not eliminate the name complexity
effect, (2) inducing participants to attribute disfluency to a lack
of familiarity (a hypothesized mediator) did not yield evidence
of mediation, and (3) altering the implications of disfluency (i.e.,
that complexly-named companies may be more creative) did not
reverse the name complexity effect. In Study 2, the magnitude
of the name complexity effect was found to vary in proportion
to participants’ prior belief in the relevance of company name
complexity to stock performance. Study 3 established the causal
effect of these beliefs experimentally. Conclusion: Results of
these studies revealed a reliable name complexity effect, but
failed to support a fluency-based interpretation. Name complexity
thus influences stock valuation, but this effect is not explained by
processing fluency. Implications will be discussed.
#386 8:15
Ratings of Relationship Quality Reflect Internalized
Homosexual Prejudice
Tina Mayes, Psychology (U)
David Armor, Psychology
When this study was conducted, Proposition 8 had recently
passed, banning same-sex marriage in California. This resulted
in mass controversy concerning gay marriage and whether
same-sex couples were being denied marriage rights because
of perceived differences in their ability to maintain long-term
relationships (Brumbaugh & Sanchez, 2008). Research by Herek
demonstrated negative attitudes of gay men and lesbians, including
perceived inabilities to rear children or maintain monogamous
relationships , indicating a discomfort with long-term same-sex
relationships (2002). Young adults surveyed by Williams and
Jacoby rated people with premarital same-sex sexual experiences
as more likely to cheat and to be emotionally unstable
compared to those that had premarital opposite-sex sexual
experiences, making them less appealing as a potential marriage
partner (1989). San Diego State University students and alumni
completed an anonymous survey evaluating whether people’s ratings
of relationship quality were different depending on whether
the couple were heterosexual, lesbian, or gay male, and whether
those ratings were influenced by the couple’s intent to marry
or merely dating (n = 167). The surveys consisted of a description
of a couple followed by a set of 7 questions concerning the
overall perceived relationship quality of that particular couple.
Descriptions of the couples were identical except for manipulated
names which inferred whether the couple was lesbian, gay, or
STUDENT RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM 2010