Flexible Correction Model
Updated 2026-08-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
The Flexible Correction Model, proposed by Wegener and Petty, explains how people adjust judgments they suspect are biased. When a person becomes aware that a judgment may be influenced by some extraneous factor, they attempt to correct for it. The direction and size of that correction follow the person's naive theory about how the bias works, not the bias itself. As a result, correction can be accurate, insufficient, or excessive. The theory's key limitation is that awareness of a bias does not guarantee a correct adjustment, because the adjustment is only as good as the naive theory guiding it.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Use bias awareness: name the specific factor you think is distorting your judgment. - Use theory check: state how much and in which direction you believe that factor pushed you. - Use overshoot guard: correct by a measured amount rather than inverting your judgment entirely.
Anchor fast decisions
Judgment correction is a two-step process: detect a possible bias, then apply a mental adjustment proportional to the bias you believe exists. Because the adjustment is driven by belief rather than measurement, its accuracy depends entirely on the naive theory behind it. If the theory overstates the bias, the correction overshoots and produces a new error in the opposite direction; if it understates it, the original bias survives. This is why conscious debiasing can leave judgments no better, or worse, than uncorrected ones.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_E._Pettyverified
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