Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2005
Capstone Advisor
Dr. Kate B. Carey
Honors Reader
Dr. Stephen Maisto
Capstone Major
Psychology
Capstone College
Arts and Science
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Social Sciences
Subject Categories
Community Psychology | Experimental Analysis of Behavior | Other Psychology | Psychology
Abstract
The primary purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that enhancing the availability of images that either portrayed liberal heavy drinking at college or the conservative academic side of college would serve to influence students’ perceptions of peer norms. It was hypothesized that students would rely on the availability heuristic to make judgments of peer norms, so that exposure to a movie clip that emphasized drinking would increase estimates of peer drinking norms when compared with exposure to a movie clip that emphasized academic work. It was further hypothesized that the film clips would assist participants in making judgments of others' attitudes towards drinking. A total of 83 undergraduates were randomly assigned into one of two conditions: a 15-minute video clip of Rudy (n = 43), or a 15-minute video clip of Animal House (n = 39). After viewing the videos, all participants completed measures of estimated drinking norms and attitudes towards drinking held by otherSyracuseUniversity students. However, the results did not support the hypotheses and insignificant differences were found between groups, relating to their estimates of others’ drinking, as well as their perceptions of others’ attitudes towards drinking. Suggestions for future research include the strengthening of the manipulation and stratifying participants by drinking level.
Recommended Citation
McEnroy, Jennifer, "The Effects of the Availability Heuristic on Student's Judgments of Others Alcohol Consumption" (2005). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 674.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/674
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Included in
Community Psychology Commons, Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons, Other Psychology Commons
