The Longevities of Policy-Shifts and Memories Due to Single Feedback Numbers

Abstract

What proportion of people in the U.S. are imprisoned?Would knowing this number affect one's views on U.S. justice?Policy-makers, voters, and consumers need a sense of such quantities to help shape effective policies, and schools must prepare students for such roles.Our past research has documented changes in individuals' numerical concepts-and often their views on issues-after they received a single critical number.In the experiment, we examined eighth grade students within the Numerically-Driven Inferencing paradigm (NDI), using an experimental method (EPIC) in which participants: Estimate policy-relevant quantities, state Preferences for these, briefly receive actual quantities as feedback to Incorporate, and offer preferences again that may exhibit any policy Changes.Students were then asked (post-EPIC) to recall the actual number and indicate their current preference for the quantity-either eight or 84 days after they received the feedback.Memory for the actual values was considerable after eight days, and still evident after 12 weeks.Further, feedback-triggered policy shifts were also evident after both eight and 84 days post-feedback.Therefore, recall and policy shifts spawned by minimalist interventions-briefly viewed solitary numbers--can have substantial longevities.

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