Applying processing trees in social psychology

ABSTRACT

Processing tree models offer a powerful research framework by which the contributions of cognitive processes to a task can be separated and quantified. The present article reviews a number of applications of processing tree models in the domain of social psychology in order to illustrate the steps to be taken in developing and validating a given model and applying it to the measurement and comparison of processes across experimental and quasi-experimental conditions. Process dissociation models are discussed as special cases of processing tree models. Crucial assumptions of processing tree models are considered and methods to overcome violations of such assumptions are reviewed. In addition to the application of processing tree models for the analysis of social and cognitive processes, their value is also discussed for the elicitation of truthful responses to socially sensitive questions.

KEYWORDS:

• Multinomial processing tree models
• process dissociation procedure
• social cognition
• automaticity

Notes

1. Testing whether parameter values differ from zero or one, that is, from parameter values at the boundary of the parameter space, requires slight modifications in the statistical evaluation of the difference in fit. The relevant statistical theory is described in Self and Liang (1987). An applied example can be found in Hütter et al. (2012).

2. An anonymous reviewer suggested using adaptive response deadlines designed to counteract positional effects, that is, to keep performance stable at whatever level it had initially. This is an interesting idea that to our knowledge has so far not been put to test.

Additional information

Funding

The preparation of this article was supported by an Emmy-Noether grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft: [Grant Number HU 1978/4-1] awarded to the first author.