Authority effects on heuristic and visual arguments persist when instructions push participants toward evaluating conviction, ruling out an instruction-interpretation artifact¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr2·q3
Currency · newest study 2008 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i? In Experiment 3, mathematicians in the named condition found the heuristic argument more persuasive than those in the anonymous condition. → Matthew Inglis 2008
q3 i? The visual-argument authority effect also replicated in Experiment 3, though with a somewhat smaller mean difference. → Matthew Inglis 2008
Evidence¶
Matthew Inglis 2008¶
Matthew Inglis, Juan Pablo Mejia-Ramos. (2008). The Effect of Authority on the Persuasiveness of Mathematical Arguments. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370000802584513
q3 · i? · causal · r2
Experiment 3 with 214 research-active mathematicians used reworded instructions asking how persuaded they were that the claim is true given only the argument; both authority effects replicated with no effect size printed.
"Participants in the named condition found the heuristic argument to be more persuasive than those in the anonymous condition, t(212.0)=2.75, p=0.007, with the magnitude of the difference in means similar to that found in the previous experiments. A similar result was found in the visual argument, t(208)=2.37, p=0.019"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Knowing an argument was written by an expert mathematician increases reported persuasion for a heuristic argument among both students and researchers — related
- Authority figures do not increase persuasion for formal proofs, regardless of proof complexity or author eminence — related
- An argument's named authoritative author increased mathematicians' persuasiveness ratings, but the authority effect vanished for deductive proofs — related
- A majority of surveyed mathematicians report believing proofs are correct because of journal publication, journal quality, or a trusted authoritative source — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
authority-effect-survives-conviction-instructions |
title |
Authority effects on heuristic and visual arguments persist when instructions push participants toward evaluating conviction, ruling out an instruction-interpretation artifact |
description |
Authority effects on heuristic and visual arguments persist when instructions push participants toward evaluating conviction, ruling out an instruction-interpretation artifact |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2008 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-18 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — matthew-inglis-2008 |
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