Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
13455933 | Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition | 2019 | 10 Pages |
Abstract
We investigated the tendency of children and adults to rely on the most intense and final moments when judging positive experiences, a heuristic known as the peak-end rule. This rule allows us to judge experiences quickly, but it can bias judgments. In three experiments involving various age groups (Nâ=â988, ages 2-97), we attempted to replicate prior findings of a peak-end rule for small and simple positive experiences (e.g., receiving small gifts; Do, Rupert, & Wolford, 2008). Based on the original study and peak-end rule predictions, we hypothesized that individuals of all ages would be less satisfied with a highly desirable gift followed by a less desirable gift than with a highly desirable gift alone. We failed to observe the peak-end rule in preschoolers, school-aged children, younger adults, or older adults in any of the contexts we investigated. Our results show little support for positive peak-end rule effects and mark boundary conditions for the rule.
Related Topics
Social Sciences and Humanities
Psychology
Applied Psychology
Authors
Eric Y. Mah, Daniel M. Bernstein,