PSY 380 Introduction to Social Psychology

Tuesday January 25, 2000

Today's Topic:

Impression Formation

Announcements

Carol Tavris lecture, Thursday Jan 27 at 12 noon, Rackham Ampitheater (4th floor)

Exam 1, Thursday Feb 03, 11-12noon

Sections 002-007 here in 1324 EH

Sections 008-013 in 1202 SEB

special needs? alert your GSI immediately

bring a #2 pencil and eraser

Questions from previous lecture

Is the research valid given the small sample sizes?

Does the research mean that we don't have control or choice in our behavior?

Does the research mean that "subliminal advertising" really works?

Other questions?

Forming Impressions

We can quickly and easily extrapolate from relatively little information.

We "go beyond the information given"

The Power of First Impressions

Once formed, first impressions can guide subsequent processing

First impressions tend to persist even in the face of contradictory information

Jones, Rock, Shaver, Goethels & Ward (1968)

Participants watch person take oral exam

Test taker either starts well then does poorly, or starts poorly then does well

In either case, gets 15 out of 30 correct

Test taker rated more intelligent when he started out doing well than poorly

Follow-up study: Hilton, Klein & von Hippel (1991)

Central Traits (Asch, 1946)

central traits: traits that have a powerful influence on how other traits are interpreted

trait negativity bias: we pay more attention to and give more weight to negative traits

Implicit Personality Theories

The impressions we form tend to be unified constellations of traits

Some traits just seem to "go together"

When we don't use shortcuts

Dual process theory of impression formation

When motivated and able, we don't rely on schemas and heuristics, and use individuating information instead

Dual Process Model of Impression Formation

Nonverbal Communication

We read other people by looking at their facial expression and body language

Influence of Culture