Dr. Douglas Wedell
Professor

Dr. Wedell received his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1984. After positions as a Research Associate at UCLA, Post Doctoral Fellow in Quantitative Psychology and Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois, he joined the faculty at the University of South Carolina in 1989. He has been funded by the National Science Foundation in grants to study how people evaluate of probabilistic alternatives, how process tracing can be used to understand choice and judgment, and how contextual dependence may lead to invalid assessments.

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Research Focus The motivating force behind Dr. Wedell's research is an attempt to better understand how context affects how we think about and interact with the world. He has studied context effects by altering the nature of the stimulus or choice set, changing features of the task, such as the mode of presentation or the type or response required, and manipulating the framing of the information being considered. His research is characterized by development of quantitative models that explain judgment, decision, and memory processes. Recent areas of research include the following:

• JUDGMENT & CHOICE: Dr. Wedell has continued basic research into the contextual bases of judgment and choice. Within this area, he has been particularly concerned with the contextual processes underlying similarity and preference judgments. He has examined these processes using simple perceptual stimuli and more complex social stimuli. Recent research in this area focuses on how the ideals underlying judgment are determined by recent and categorical contexts.
• AGGREGATION OF RISK: Dr. Wedell has developed a research program aimed at understanding how judgments and decisions about risky prospects are influenced by whether they are considered as unique or as part of an aggregate.
• PROCESS MEASURES: Dr. Wedell has studied how process tracing measures, such as looking time on a given piece of information, can be used to distinguish among different theories of judgment and choice.
• BIAS IN ESTIMATION: Most recently, he has examined estimation processes in spatial cognition and developed models of spatial memory based on patterns of bias in estimation

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Recent Publications

Fitting, S., Wedell, D. H., & Allen, G.L. (in press). External cue effects on memory for spatial location within a rotated task field. Spatial Cognition and Computing.

Fitting, S., Wedell, D. H., & Allen, G.L. (in press). Cue usage in memory for location when orientation is fixed. Memory and Cognition.

Wedell, D. H. (2008). A similarity-based range-frequency model for two category rating data. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 15, 638-643.

Wedell, D. H., & Moro, R. (2008). Testing boundary conditions for the conjunction fallacy: Effects of response mode, conceptual focus and problem type. Cognition, 107, 105-136.

Fitting, S., Allen, G. L., & Wedell, D. H. (2007). Remembering Places in Space: A Human Analog Study of the Morris Water Maze. In T. Barkowsky, M. Knauff, G. Ligozat, & D. R. Montello (Eds.), Spatial cognition V: Reasoning, Action, Interaction, LNAI 4387 (pp. 59 -75). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

Fitting, S., Wedell, D. H., & Allen, G. L. (2007). Memory for Spatial Location: Cue Effects as a Function of Field Rotation. Memory and Cognition, 35, 1641-1658.

Hicklin, S. K., & Wedell, D. H. (2007). Learning group differences: Implications for contrast and assimilation in stereotyping. Social Cognition, 25, 410-454.

Pettibone, J. C., & Wedell, D. H. (2007). Testing alternative explanations of phantom decoy effects. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 20, 323-341.

Pettibone, J. C., & Wedell, D. H. (2007). Of gnomes and leprechauns: The recruitment of recent and categorical contexts in social judgment. Acta Psychologica, 125, 361-389.

Wedell, D. H., Fitting, S., & Allen, G. L. (2007). Shape effects on memory for location. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 14, 681-686.

Wedell, D. H., Hinklin, S., Smarandescu, L. O. (2007). Contrasting models of assimilation and contrast. In D. Stapel and J. Suls (Eds), Assimilation and contrast in social psychology, (pp. 45-74), New York: Psychology Press.

Fitting, S., Wedell, D. H., & Allen, G. L. (2005). Memory for spatial location: Influences of environmental cues and task field rotation. In A. G. Cohn & D. M. Mark (Eds.). Spatial information theory: International Conference, COSIT 2005 (pp. 459-474). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

Haun, D. B. M., Allen, G. L., Wedell, D. H. (2005). Bias in spatial memory: a categorical endorsement, Acta Psychologica, 118, 149-170.

Wedell, D. H., Santoyo, E. M., & Pettibone, J. C. (2005). The thick and the thin of it: Contextual effects in body perception. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 27, 213-227.

O’Reilly, D. M., Leitch, R. A., Wedell, D. H. (2004). The effects of immediate context on auditors judgments of loan quality. Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, 23, 89-105.

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