Next to a star: Paling, shining, or both? Turning interexemplar contrast into interexemplar assimilation

Four studies, set in the political and marketing domain, investigated how an extreme exemplar influences the evaluation of more moderate exemplars. In Studies 1 to 3, an extremely positive exemplar (star) elicited contrast in the evaluation of more moderate exemplars. However, the contrast effect was eliminated when the shared category membership of the star and the respective exemplar was made salient. Rather than relying on categorization, Study 4 manipulated interexemplar assimilation by using comparison processes to draw attention to the features shared with an extreme exemplar. Whether the extreme exemplar caused contrast or assimilation depended on the direction of comparison with which target and context stimulus were compared. All studies, in particular Studies 3 and 4, suggest that interexemplar contrast and interexemplar assimilation work in parallel rather than alternatively.