This paper extends previous research showing that experienced difficulty ofrecall can influence evaluative judgments (e.g., Winkielman & Schwarz,2001) to a field study of university students rating a course. Studentscompleted a mid-course evaluation form in which they were asked to list either 2ways in which the course could be improved (a relatively easy task) or 10 waysin which the course could be improved (a relatively difficult task). Respondentswho had been asked for 10 critical comments subsequently rated the course morefavorably than respondents who had been asked for 2 critical comments. Aninternal analysis suggests that the number of critiques solicited provides aframe against which accessibility of instances is evaluated. The paper concludeswith a discussion of implications of the present results and possible directionsfor future research.
