Long-term range effects in hedonic ratings

Judgments of individual stimuli can depend on the range of stimuli in which they are included. Such range, or contrast, effects have been studied extensively for judgments made within a single session. The present study tested whether stimulus range effects for hedonic judgments might carry-over from one session to another. In two experiments participants evaluated cordials for strength relative to ideal in separate sessions up to one week apart. In Session 1 half of the participants evaluated a range of high concentration cordials (High Group), while half evaluated a low concentration range (Low Group); in Session 2 all participants evaluated the same low concentration range. Both experiments revealed long-term range effects, in that the High Group maintained a higher ideal cordial strength in Session 2. In addition, Experiment 1 showed that the effect is not influenced by inter-session interval, while Experiment 2 revealed that it can transfer across cordials of different color and flavor. This systematic demonstration of long-term range effects has important implications for any evaluation study using multiple sessions.