A ratings pattern heuristic in judgments of expertise: When being right Looks wrong

• Published in: Organizational behavior and human decision processes 2018-07, Vol.147, p.26-47
• Main Authors: Spassova, Gerri, Palmeira, Mauricio, Andrade, Eduardo B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Expertise judgments; Rating variance; Ratings pattern; Uniformity
• ISSN: 0749-5978; 1095-9920
• DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2018.05.003

•Critics who assign uniform ratings are judged as less expert.•This is observed even when diagnostic cues clearly justify the uniform ratings.•A “discrimination = expertise” rule and a focus on summary ratings drive the effect.•Critics are less aware than judges of the effect of uniform ratings. We propose a “ratings pattern heuristic” in judgments of expertise—that is, people’s tendency to undervalue critics who assign the same rating to multiple options, overlooking diagnostic information which would clearly justify the uniform ratings. The heuristic is driven by a strong association between discrimination and expertise and a focus on summary ratings. People “punish” uniform (vs. varied) raters even when (a) uniform ratings are acknowledgedly more likely (studies 1a and 1b), (b) the uniform rater’s past performance is superior (studies 2 and 3), and (c) the uniform rater also reports varied sub-ratings (study 4a), unless participants are prompted to assess the sub-ratings prior to choosing a critic (studies 4b and 5). Study 6 reveals that critics are less aware than judges of the impact of the pattern of their ratings on others’ perceptions.