The role of similarity in exemplification effect

Abstract

Exemplification research has consistently shown that after reading news reports including individual cases, people tend to base their judgments on these so-called exemplars. Until today, it is not entirely clear why exemplars are so powerful in shaping recipients’ perception of public opinion and why they sometimes fail to influence personal opinion. Based on prior research, we assume that the influence of exemplars on both types of judgments is due to similarity effects: While similarity between recipients and exemplars should moderate effects on recipients’ personal opinion, the similarity between exemplars and “the public” should be responsible for effects on the perceived public opinion. Conducting a 2x2x2-web-based experiment, we find that the similarity between exemplars and the target population influences public opinion estimates; we find only partial support for an effect of similarity between exemplars and recipients on personal opinion.