<p>The American Psychological Association (APA) points out that <a href="https://dictionary.apa.org/salience-hypothesis" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the Salience Hypothesis is</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>a theory of perception according to which motivationally significant stimuli (objects, people, meanings, etc.) are perceived more readily than are stimuli with little motivational importance. It has relevance in social perception, advertising, and linguistics.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In social psychology, discussion on social salience is talking about the extent to which a particular target draws the attention of an observer or group. More on that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_salience" rel="nofollow noreferrer">can be found at Wikipedia</a></p>
<p>So as Han, et al. (2018) — cited in your question — points out, more extreme outcomes receive more attention.</p>
<p>For some examples, the term <strong>salience</strong> is <a href="https://psychology.iresearchnet.com/social-psychology/social-cognition/salience/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">discussed at iResearchNet</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The term salient refers to anything (person, behavior, trait, etc.) that is prominent, conspicuous, or otherwise noticeable compared with its surroundings. Salience is usually produced by novelty or unexpectedness, but can also be brought about by shifting one’s attention to that feature. Salience usually depends on context. A child would not be particularly salient at his or her school, but would be at a nursing home. The act of crying would not be salient at a funeral, but would be at a job interview. A salient feature can be thought of as the “figure” that stands out against the “ground” of all other nonsalient features.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-02T13:10:41.817Z
2021-11-02T14:35:43.727Z
2021-11-02T14:35:43.727Z
Chris Rogers
<p>There are different approaches to the psychology of salience. One approach is based in social inter-group theory that holds that we assign more meaning to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21077864/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">&quot;social categories that are made salient in the environment&quot; (Bigler &amp; Liben 2006, 2007, as cited in Hillard &amp; Liben, 2010)</a>. More specifically, this facet of salience is called social-group salience.</p>
<p>In response to your question about the research you cited which follows:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-financial-and-quantitative-analysis/article/abs/social-transmission-bias-and-investor-behavior/72313DD8E8227F179EE1ED760B10FD65" rel="nofollow noreferrer">&quot;Investors discuss their strategies and convert others to their strategies with a probability that increases in investment returns.&quot;</a></p>
<p>Perhaps <a href="https://dictionary.apa.org/group-polarization" rel="nofollow noreferrer">group-polarization</a> is at work here, related to the inter-group approach to salience I explained above. That is, the tendency to adopt more extreme view after being exposed to others opinions.</p>
<p><strong>References</strong></p>
<p>Hilliard, L. J., &amp; Liben, L. S. (2010). Differing levels of gender salience in preschool classrooms: effects on children's gender attitudes and intergroup bias. Child development, 81(6), 1787–1798. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01510.x" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01510.x</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-03T03:33:46.230Z
2021-11-03T03:33:46.230Z
stephan_phd
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022109021000077" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Han et. al., (2021)</a> documented that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Motivated by the <strong>psychology of salience</strong>, we also make a second key
psychological assumption that receivers attend more to extreme
outcomes</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I am wondering what does &quot;psychology of salience&quot; mean here. I search for the meaning and see <a href="https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Salience#:%7E:text=Salience%20in%20psychology.,stands%20out%20from%20the%20rest." rel="nofollow noreferrer">that</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Salience in psychology. Distinctiveness, prominence, obviousness. The
term is widely used in the study of perception and cognition to refer
to any aspect of a stimulus that, for any of many reasons, stands out
from the rest</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, I cannot fit this meaning to the sentence of Han,2021 as above.
Could you please help me to sort it out?</p>
<h2>References</h2>
<p>Han, B., Hirshleifer, D., &amp; Walden, J. (2021). Social transmission bias and investor behavior. <em>Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, First View</em>, 1-42. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022109021000077" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022109021000077</a></p>

<social-psychology>
What does "psychology of salience" mean?
Phil Nguyen
# What does "psychology of salience" mean?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-11-02)

[Han et. al., (2021)](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022109021000077) documented that

> Motivated by the **psychology of salience**, we also make a second key
> psychological assumption that receivers attend more to extreme
> outcomes

I am wondering what does "psychology of salience" mean here. I search for the meaning and see [that](https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Salience#:%7E:text=Salience%20in%20psychology.,stands%20out%20from%20the%20rest.)

> Salience in psychology. Distinctiveness, prominence, obviousness. The
> term is widely used in the study of perception and cognition to refer
> to any aspect of a stimulus that, for any of many reasons, stands out
> from the rest

However, I cannot fit this meaning to the sentence of Han,2021 as above.
Could you please help me to sort it out?

## References

Han, B., Hirshleifer, D., & Walden, J. (2021). Social transmission bias and investor behavior. *Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, First View*, 1-42. <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022109021000077>

**Tags:** social-psychology


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-11-02. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

The American Psychological Association (APA) points out that [the Salience Hypothesis is](https://dictionary.apa.org/salience-hypothesis)

> a theory of perception according to which motivationally significant stimuli (objects, people, meanings, etc.) are perceived more readily than are stimuli with little motivational importance. It has relevance in social perception, advertising, and linguistics.

In social psychology, discussion on social salience is talking about the extent to which a particular target draws the attention of an observer or group. More on that [can be found at Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_salience)

So as Han, et al. (2018) — cited in your question — points out, more extreme outcomes receive more attention.

For some examples, the term **salience** is [discussed at iResearchNet](https://psychology.iresearchnet.com/social-psychology/social-cognition/salience/).

> The term salient refers to anything (person, behavior, trait, etc.) that is prominent, conspicuous, or otherwise noticeable compared with its surroundings. Salience is usually produced by novelty or unexpectedness, but can also be brought about by shifting one’s attention to that feature. Salience usually depends on context. A child would not be particularly salient at his or her school, but would be at a nursing home. The act of crying would not be salient at a funeral, but would be at a job interview. A salient feature can be thought of as the “figure” that stands out against the “ground” of all other nonsalient features.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2021-11-03. Score: 1

There are different approaches to the psychology of salience. One approach is based in social inter-group theory that holds that we assign more meaning to ["social categories that are made salient in the environment" (Bigler & Liben 2006, 2007, as cited in Hillard & Liben, 2010)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21077864/). More specifically, this facet of salience is called social-group salience.

In response to your question about the research you cited which follows:

["Investors discuss their strategies and convert others to their strategies with a probability that increases in investment returns."](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-financial-and-quantitative-analysis/article/abs/social-transmission-bias-and-investor-behavior/72313DD8E8227F179EE1ED760B10FD65)

Perhaps [group-polarization](https://dictionary.apa.org/group-polarization) is at work here, related to the inter-group approach to salience I explained above. That is, the tendency to adopt more extreme view after being exposed to others opinions.

**References**

Hilliard, L. J., & Liben, L. S. (2010). Differing levels of gender salience in preschool classrooms: effects on children's gender attitudes and intergroup bias. Child development, 81(6), 1787–1798. <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01510.x>


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