The preference for potential
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6204723 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Zakary L Tormala (Stanford University), Jayson S Jia (Stanford University), Michael I Norton |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 103 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 567-583 |
| Publication date | 2012-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037/a0029227 |
| PMID | 22775472 |
| OpenAlex | W2114193151 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 21 |
| References cited | 25 |
When people seek to impress others, they often do so by highlighting individual achievements. Despite the intuitive appeal of this strategy, we demonstrate that people often prefer potential rather than achievement when evaluating others. Indeed, compared with references to achievement (e.g., "this person has won an award for his work"), references to potential (e.g., "this person could win an award for his work") appear to stimulate greater interest and processing, which can translate into more favorable reactions. This tendency creates a phenomenon whereby the potential to be good at something can be preferred over actually being good at that very same thing. We document this preference for potential in laboratory and field experiments, using targets ranging from athletes to comedians to graduate school applicants and measures ranging from salary allocations to online ad clicks to admission decisions
Appeal · Athletes · Epistemology · Phenomenon · Preference · Salary · Work (physics) · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology
Facing the future
The attractiveness of group potential
Women’s evaluation of themselves and others regarding potential in different work environments
Change Appeals
The Humor Advantage
“My goal is to do the best that I can in this class”
The development and predictors of a preference for strivers over naturals in the United States and China
The “Next” Effect
Why Improvement Can Trump Consistent Strong Performance
Responding to negative online reviews
Revising probability estimates
The power and limits of personal change
Attitudes guiding social behavior as a function of perceived knowledge
Playing Hard-to-Get
The effects of counterfactual defences on social judgements
The Passionate Pygmalion Effect
The allure of unknown outcomes
Desire and pleasure in choice
Potential-based achievement goals
Probable Cause
Double Standards in the Use of Enhancing Products by Self and Others
Handbook of Social Psychology
A Wrinkle in Time
Looking forward, looking back
Preference and belief
Risk, Ambiguity, and the Savage Axioms
On the psychology of prediction.
The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion
The feeling of uncertainty intensifies affective reactions
Intuitive evaluation of likelihood judgment producers
Naturals and strivers
The existence bias
The Pleasures of Uncertainty
Less is more
Illusion and well-being
Modeling Ambiguity in Decisions Under Uncertainty
Buyer Uncertainty and Information Search
Reasons for Substantial Delay in Consumer Decision Making
Believe Me, I Have No Idea What I'm Talking About
When Uncertainty Brings Pleasure
A Room with a Viewpoint
The Effect of Temporal Frame on Information Considered in New Product Evaluation
Indeterminacy and Live Television
| Unique citing works | 21 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,75 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2025 (12) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 21 |