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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.13798 |
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| _version_ | 1866911063598956544 |
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| author | Coffman, Katherine B. Kostyshak, Scott Saygin, Perihan O. |
| author_facet | Coffman, Katherine B. Kostyshak, Scott Saygin, Perihan O. |
| contents | We use a controlled experiment to study how information acquisition impacts candidate evaluations. We provide evaluators with group-level information on performance and the opportunity to acquire additional, individual-level performance information before making a final evaluation. We find that, on average, evaluators under-acquire individual-level information, leading to more stereotypical evaluations of candidates. Consistent with stereotyping, we find that (irrelevant) group-level comparisons have a significant impact on how candidates are evaluated; group-level comparisons bias initial assessments, responses to information, and final evaluations. This leads to under-recognition of talented candidates from comparatively weaker groups and over-selection of untalented candidates from comparatively stronger groups. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_13798 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Choosing and Using Information in Evaluation Decisions Coffman, Katherine B. Kostyshak, Scott Saygin, Perihan O. General Economics Economics 91-05 (Primary) 91B06, 91B39, 91B44 (Secondary) We use a controlled experiment to study how information acquisition impacts candidate evaluations. We provide evaluators with group-level information on performance and the opportunity to acquire additional, individual-level performance information before making a final evaluation. We find that, on average, evaluators under-acquire individual-level information, leading to more stereotypical evaluations of candidates. Consistent with stereotyping, we find that (irrelevant) group-level comparisons have a significant impact on how candidates are evaluated; group-level comparisons bias initial assessments, responses to information, and final evaluations. This leads to under-recognition of talented candidates from comparatively weaker groups and over-selection of untalented candidates from comparatively stronger groups. |
| title | Choosing and Using Information in Evaluation Decisions |
| topic | General Economics Economics 91-05 (Primary) 91B06, 91B39, 91B44 (Secondary) |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.13798 |