ASSIMILATION AND CONTRAST EFFECTS IN PART-WHOLE QUESTION SEQUENCES: A CONVERSATIONAL LOGIC ANALYSIS

A theoretical model of the emergence of assimilation and contrasteffects in part-whole question sequences is presented. Whenone specific question precedes a general question and the twoare not assigned to the same conversational context, respondentsuse the information primed by the specific question to formthe general judgment. This results in part-whole assimilationeffects. If both questions are perceived as belonging to gether,however, conversational norms of nonredundancy prohibit therepeated use of information that has already been provided inresponse to the specific question when making the general judgment.Accordingly, respondents interpret the general question to referto aspects other than the ones covered by the specific question.Contrast effects may emerge in that case under specified conditions.If several specific questions precede the general question,however, the general one is always interpreted as a requestfor a summary judgment. This results in assimilation effects,even under conditions that would foster contrast effects ifonly one specific question is asked. The model is supportedby experimental data and provides a coherent account of apparentlycontradictory findings previously reported in the survey literature.