Cues and Processes Underlying Confidence in Choice

Three experiments that address the following fundamental questions about confidence judgment are presented: (1) What cues form the basis for confidence in choice? And (2) what are the cognitive processes that drive choice and confidence responses in general knowledge tasks? Critical manipulations in the experiments included reasons generation, priming of options, and intensive demands to recall relevant domain knowledge. Behavioral response and process tracing results from the three experiments provided evidence for a two-stage process wherein a preliminary choice stage is driven largely by familiarity, and an ensuing evaluation stage is determined mainly by accessibility and arguments for the preliminary choice.