Recognizing the Presidents: Was Alexander Hamilton President?
Studies over the past 40 years have shown that Americans can recall about half the U.S. presidents. Do people know the presidents even though they are unable to access them for recall? We investigated this question using the powerful cues of a recognition test. Specifically, we tested the ability of...
Gespeichert in:
Veröffentlicht in: | Psychological science 2016-05, Vol.27 (5), p.644-650 |
---|---|
Hauptverfasser: | , |
Format: | Artikel |
Sprache: | eng |
Schlagworte: | |
Online-Zugang: | Volltext |
Tags: |
Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
|
container_end_page | 650 |
---|---|
container_issue | 5 |
container_start_page | 644 |
container_title | Psychological science |
container_volume | 27 |
creator | Roediger, Henry L. DeSoto, K. Andrew |
description | Studies over the past 40 years have shown that Americans can recall about half the U.S. presidents. Do people know the presidents even though they are unable to access them for recall? We investigated this question using the powerful cues of a recognition test. Specifically, we tested the ability of 326 online subjects to recognize U.S. presidents when presented with their full names among various types of lures. The hit rate for presidential recognition was .88, well above the proportion produced in free recall but far from perfect. Presidents Franklin Pierce and Chester Arthur were recognized less than 60% of the time. Interestingly, four nonpresidents were falsely recognized at relatively high rates, and Alexander Hamilton was more frequently identified as president than were several actual presidents. Even on a recognition test, knowledge of American presidents is imperfect and prone to error. The false alarm data support the theory that false fame can arise from contextual familiarity. |
doi_str_mv | 10.1177/0956797616631113 |
format | Article |
fullrecord | <record><control><sourceid>jstor_proqu</sourceid><recordid>TN_cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_1835019973</recordid><sourceformat>XML</sourceformat><sourcesystem>PC</sourcesystem><jstor_id>24763463</jstor_id><sage_id>10.1177_0956797616631113</sage_id><sourcerecordid>24763463</sourcerecordid><originalsourceid>FETCH-LOGICAL-c406t-89439bcbb911385cd8b17a2f3498233f4a2ef6b7181b6339b63caeeb519649813</originalsourceid><addsrcrecordid>eNqN0c9LwzAUB_AgipvTuxel4MVLNS9J80MQGUOdMFBE8VjSLp0d_TGTFtS_3pRNJ4JoLjnk8755yUNoH_AJgBCnWEVcKMGBcwoAdAP1gXERKiLxJup3x2F33kM7zs2xX4LybdQjAjNGQfXR-b1J61mVv-fVLGieTXBnjcunpmrcWfCkXTAszKuupsYGY13mRVNXa3Kxi7YyXTizt9oH6PHq8mE0Die31zej4SRMGeZNKBWjKkmTRPkeZZROZQJCk4wyJQmlGdPEZDwRICHh1FNOU21MEoHingAdoONl7sLWL61xTVzmLjVFoStTty4GSSMMSgn6D4olF4QC-ZsKhRmXLOoaOPpB53VrK__mTpFIRYRJr_BSpbZ2zposXti81PYtBhx3A4t_DsyXHK6C26Q006-Czwl5EC6B0zPz7dbfAw-Wfu6a2q7zmOCU-c_9ANNbow8</addsrcrecordid><sourcetype>Aggregation Database</sourcetype><iscdi>true</iscdi><recordtype>article</recordtype><pqid>1792595248</pqid></control><display><type>article</type><title>Recognizing the Presidents: Was Alexander Hamilton President?</title><source>MEDLINE</source><source>JSTOR Archive Collection A-Z Listing</source><source>SAGE Complete A-Z List</source><creator>Roediger, Henry L. ; DeSoto, K. Andrew</creator><creatorcontrib>Roediger, Henry L. ; DeSoto, K. Andrew</creatorcontrib><description>Studies over the past 40 years have shown that Americans can recall about half the U.S. presidents. Do people know the presidents even though they are unable to access them for recall? We investigated this question using the powerful cues of a recognition test. Specifically, we tested the ability of 326 online subjects to recognize U.S. presidents when presented with their full names among various types of lures. The hit rate for presidential recognition was .88, well above the proportion produced in free recall but far from perfect. Presidents Franklin Pierce and Chester Arthur were recognized less than 60% of the time. Interestingly, four nonpresidents were falsely recognized at relatively high rates, and Alexander Hamilton was more frequently identified as president than were several actual presidents. Even on a recognition test, knowledge of American presidents is imperfect and prone to error. The false alarm data support the theory that false fame can arise from contextual familiarity.</description><identifier>ISSN: 0956-7976</identifier><identifier>EISSN: 1467-9280</identifier><identifier>DOI: 10.1177/0956797616631113</identifier><identifier>PMID: 27044319</identifier><identifier>CODEN: PSYSET</identifier><language>eng</language><publisher>Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications</publisher><subject>Adult ; Cues ; Error ; Errors ; Female ; Heads of state ; Humans ; Knowledge ; Male ; Mental Recall - physiology ; Middle Aged ; Names ; Politics ; Presidents ; Recall ; Recognition ; Recognition (Psychology) - physiology ; United States ; Young Adult</subject><ispartof>Psychological science, 2016-05, Vol.27 (5), p.644-650</ispartof><rights>Copyright © 2016 Association for Psychological Science</rights><rights>The Author(s) 2016</rights><rights>The Author(s) 2016.</rights><rights>Copyright SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC. May 2016</rights><lds50>peer_reviewed</lds50><woscitedreferencessubscribed>false</woscitedreferencessubscribed><cites>FETCH-LOGICAL-c406t-89439bcbb911385cd8b17a2f3498233f4a2ef6b7181b6339b63caeeb519649813</cites></display><links><openurl>$$Topenurl_article</openurl><openurlfulltext>$$Topenurlfull_article</openurlfulltext><thumbnail>$$Tsyndetics_thumb_exl</thumbnail><linktopdf>$$Uhttps://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/24763463$$EPDF$$P50$$Gjstor$$H</linktopdf><linktohtml>$$Uhttps://www.jstor.org/stable/24763463$$EHTML$$P50$$Gjstor$$H</linktohtml><link.rule.ids>314,780,784,803,21817,27922,27923,43619,43620,58015,58248</link.rule.ids><backlink>$$Uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27044319$$D View this record in MEDLINE/PubMed$$Hfree_for_read</backlink></links><search><creatorcontrib>Roediger, Henry L.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>DeSoto, K. Andrew</creatorcontrib><title>Recognizing the Presidents: Was Alexander Hamilton President?</title><title>Psychological science</title><addtitle>Psychol Sci</addtitle><description>Studies over the past 40 years have shown that Americans can recall about half the U.S. presidents. Do people know the presidents even though they are unable to access them for recall? We investigated this question using the powerful cues of a recognition test. Specifically, we tested the ability of 326 online subjects to recognize U.S. presidents when presented with their full names among various types of lures. The hit rate for presidential recognition was .88, well above the proportion produced in free recall but far from perfect. Presidents Franklin Pierce and Chester Arthur were recognized less than 60% of the time. Interestingly, four nonpresidents were falsely recognized at relatively high rates, and Alexander Hamilton was more frequently identified as president than were several actual presidents. Even on a recognition test, knowledge of American presidents is imperfect and prone to error. The false alarm data support the theory that false fame can arise from contextual familiarity.</description><subject>Adult</subject><subject>Cues</subject><subject>Error</subject><subject>Errors</subject><subject>Female</subject><subject>Heads of state</subject><subject>Humans</subject><subject>Knowledge</subject><subject>Male</subject><subject>Mental Recall - physiology</subject><subject>Middle Aged</subject><subject>Names</subject><subject>Politics</subject><subject>Presidents</subject><subject>Recall</subject><subject>Recognition</subject><subject>Recognition (Psychology) - physiology</subject><subject>United States</subject><subject>Young Adult</subject><issn>0956-7976</issn><issn>1467-9280</issn><fulltext>true</fulltext><rsrctype>article</rsrctype><creationdate>2016</creationdate><recordtype>article</recordtype><sourceid>EIF</sourceid><recordid>eNqN0c9LwzAUB_AgipvTuxel4MVLNS9J80MQGUOdMFBE8VjSLp0d_TGTFtS_3pRNJ4JoLjnk8755yUNoH_AJgBCnWEVcKMGBcwoAdAP1gXERKiLxJup3x2F33kM7zs2xX4LybdQjAjNGQfXR-b1J61mVv-fVLGieTXBnjcunpmrcWfCkXTAszKuupsYGY13mRVNXa3Kxi7YyXTizt9oH6PHq8mE0Die31zej4SRMGeZNKBWjKkmTRPkeZZROZQJCk4wyJQmlGdPEZDwRICHh1FNOU21MEoHingAdoONl7sLWL61xTVzmLjVFoStTty4GSSMMSgn6D4olF4QC-ZsKhRmXLOoaOPpB53VrK__mTpFIRYRJr_BSpbZ2zposXti81PYtBhx3A4t_DsyXHK6C26Q006-Czwl5EC6B0zPz7dbfAw-Wfu6a2q7zmOCU-c_9ANNbow8</recordid><startdate>20160501</startdate><enddate>20160501</enddate><creator>Roediger, Henry L.</creator><creator>DeSoto, K. Andrew</creator><general>SAGE Publications</general><general>SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC</general><scope>CGR</scope><scope>CUY</scope><scope>CVF</scope><scope>ECM</scope><scope>EIF</scope><scope>NPM</scope><scope>AAYXX</scope><scope>CITATION</scope><scope>8BJ</scope><scope>FQK</scope><scope>JBE</scope><scope>7X8</scope><scope>7TK</scope></search><sort><creationdate>20160501</creationdate><title>Recognizing the Presidents: Was Alexander Hamilton President?</title><author>Roediger, Henry L. ; DeSoto, K. Andrew</author></sort><facets><frbrtype>5</frbrtype><frbrgroupid>cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c406t-89439bcbb911385cd8b17a2f3498233f4a2ef6b7181b6339b63caeeb519649813</frbrgroupid><rsrctype>articles</rsrctype><prefilter>articles</prefilter><language>eng</language><creationdate>2016</creationdate><topic>Adult</topic><topic>Cues</topic><topic>Error</topic><topic>Errors</topic><topic>Female</topic><topic>Heads of state</topic><topic>Humans</topic><topic>Knowledge</topic><topic>Male</topic><topic>Mental Recall - physiology</topic><topic>Middle Aged</topic><topic>Names</topic><topic>Politics</topic><topic>Presidents</topic><topic>Recall</topic><topic>Recognition</topic><topic>Recognition (Psychology) - physiology</topic><topic>United States</topic><topic>Young Adult</topic><toplevel>peer_reviewed</toplevel><toplevel>online_resources</toplevel><creatorcontrib>Roediger, Henry L.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>DeSoto, K. Andrew</creatorcontrib><collection>Medline</collection><collection>MEDLINE</collection><collection>MEDLINE (Ovid)</collection><collection>MEDLINE</collection><collection>MEDLINE</collection><collection>PubMed</collection><collection>CrossRef</collection><collection>International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)</collection><collection>International Bibliography of the Social Sciences</collection><collection>International Bibliography of the Social Sciences</collection><collection>MEDLINE - Academic</collection><collection>Neurosciences Abstracts</collection><jtitle>Psychological science</jtitle></facets><delivery><delcategory>Remote Search Resource</delcategory><fulltext>fulltext</fulltext></delivery><addata><au>Roediger, Henry L.</au><au>DeSoto, K. Andrew</au><format>journal</format><genre>article</genre><ristype>JOUR</ristype><atitle>Recognizing the Presidents: Was Alexander Hamilton President?</atitle><jtitle>Psychological science</jtitle><addtitle>Psychol Sci</addtitle><date>2016-05-01</date><risdate>2016</risdate><volume>27</volume><issue>5</issue><spage>644</spage><epage>650</epage><pages>644-650</pages><issn>0956-7976</issn><eissn>1467-9280</eissn><coden>PSYSET</coden><abstract>Studies over the past 40 years have shown that Americans can recall about half the U.S. presidents. Do people know the presidents even though they are unable to access them for recall? We investigated this question using the powerful cues of a recognition test. Specifically, we tested the ability of 326 online subjects to recognize U.S. presidents when presented with their full names among various types of lures. The hit rate for presidential recognition was .88, well above the proportion produced in free recall but far from perfect. Presidents Franklin Pierce and Chester Arthur were recognized less than 60% of the time. Interestingly, four nonpresidents were falsely recognized at relatively high rates, and Alexander Hamilton was more frequently identified as president than were several actual presidents. Even on a recognition test, knowledge of American presidents is imperfect and prone to error. The false alarm data support the theory that false fame can arise from contextual familiarity.</abstract><cop>Los Angeles, CA</cop><pub>SAGE Publications</pub><pmid>27044319</pmid><doi>10.1177/0956797616631113</doi><tpages>7</tpages></addata></record> |
fulltext | fulltext |
identifier | ISSN: 0956-7976 |
ispartof | Psychological science, 2016-05, Vol.27 (5), p.644-650 |
issn | 0956-7976 1467-9280 |
language | eng |
recordid | cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_1835019973 |
source | MEDLINE; JSTOR Archive Collection A-Z Listing; SAGE Complete A-Z List |
subjects | Adult Cues Error Errors Female Heads of state Humans Knowledge Male Mental Recall - physiology Middle Aged Names Politics Presidents Recall Recognition Recognition (Psychology) - physiology United States Young Adult |
title | Recognizing the Presidents: Was Alexander Hamilton President? |
url | https://sfx.bib-bvb.de/sfx_tum?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&ctx_tim=2025-01-09T14%3A31%3A42IST&url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_ctx_fmt=infofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rfr_id=info:sid/primo.exlibrisgroup.com:primo3-Article-jstor_proqu&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Recognizing%20the%20Presidents:%20Was%20Alexander%20Hamilton%20President?&rft.jtitle=Psychological%20science&rft.au=Roediger,%20Henry%20L.&rft.date=2016-05-01&rft.volume=27&rft.issue=5&rft.spage=644&rft.epage=650&rft.pages=644-650&rft.issn=0956-7976&rft.eissn=1467-9280&rft.coden=PSYSET&rft_id=info:doi/10.1177/0956797616631113&rft_dat=%3Cjstor_proqu%3E24763463%3C/jstor_proqu%3E%3Curl%3E%3C/url%3E&disable_directlink=true&sfx.directlink=off&sfx.report_link=0&rft_id=info:oai/&rft_pqid=1792595248&rft_id=info:pmid/27044319&rft_jstor_id=24763463&rft_sage_id=10.1177_0956797616631113&rfr_iscdi=true |