Universität zu Köln

Speckmann, Felix ORCID: 0000-0002-6790-1693 and Unkelbach, Christian ORCID: 0000-0002-3793-6246 (2021). Moses, money, and multiple-choice: The Moses illusion in a multiple-choice format with high incentives. Mem. Cogn., 49. pp. 843-862. NEW YORK: SPRINGER. ISSN 1532-5946

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Abstract

When people answer the question How many animals of each kind did Moses take on the Ark?, they usually respond with two, although Moses does not appear in the biblical story of the Ark. We investigated this Moses illusion in a multiple-choice format and tested the influence of monetary incentives on the illusion's strength. Thereby, we addressed the role of a cooperative communication context for the illusion's emergence, as well as the role of participants' motivation. In four experiments (total N = 914), we found that the Moses illusion persists in a multiple-choice format. As the multiple-choice format realizes a cooperative context in which the correct answer is always available, we exclude a cooperative context explanation for the illusion. Monetary incentives reduced the strength of the illusion. However, the reduction was numerically and statistically small. We thereby show that the illusion is not due to violations of cooperative communications, and not due to a lack of motivation. The multiple-choice approach will facilitate further research on the Moses illusion and the data provide additional evidence for the Moses illusion's empirical robustness and constrain its theoretical explanations.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Speckmann, Felix UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-6790-1693 UNSPECIFIED Unkelbach, Christian UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-3793-6246 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-307635
DOI:	10.3758/s13421-020-01128-z
Journal or Publication Title:	Mem. Cogn.
Volume:	49
Page Range:	pp. 843-862
Date:	2021
Publisher:	SPRINGER
Place of Publication:	NEW YORK
ISSN:	1532-5946
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Human Sciences
Divisions:	Faculty of Human Sciences > Department Psychologie
Subjects:	Psychology
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language PERFORMANCE; MOTIVATION Multiple languages Psychology, Experimental Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/30763