Group and individual accuracy in person perception.

48 male undergraduates employed as judges (Js) participated in an individual and a group session to assess their accuracy in person perception. Using 2 programed cases, J selected from a multiple choice format what he believed to be true about a real person. Results indicated individual sessions to be more efficient and accurate than group sessions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual level and accuracy of person perception.

Conceptual systems theory asserts that abstract conceptual functioning must include a well-developed capacity to "act as if" and ability to assume the role of the other. This proposition was tested in two samples of adolescents with a person perception task that required subjects to give a target person's actual responses to Cattell's 16PF Test immediately after exposure to the target. Two videotaped targets were used. Conceptual level was found to influence accuracy as predicted in three of four analyses, and sex of subject as predicted in two of four, with the effects of intelligence controlled. Accuracy in the postdiction task, and four components of accuracy, were relatively stable across targets. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quest for accuracy in person perception: A matter of pragmatics.

Proposes that an adequate conceptualization of the person perception process must consider the interpersonal context in which that process occurs as well as the purpose for which it is intended. In line with this proposal, a pragmatic approach to person perception is presented that emphasizes the interpersonal aspects of person perception, particularly those whereby perceivers and targets negotiate the identities that targets are to assume during their interactions. A major implication of this formulation is that contemporary accounts underestimate the accuracy of the person perception process. It is concluded that past treatments of the person perception process are limited and misleading because theorists and researchers have refrained from considering the uniquely social aspects of that process. Research may wish to devote more attention to the manner in which this process is woven into the fabric of people's ongoing social relationships. (4? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interrelationships among accuracy in person perception, role taking and the A-B variable.

Administered J. Dublin, C. Elton, and J. Berzin's (see record 1970-03595-001) A-B scale, a programmed case test of accuracy in person perception, and a role-taking task that was assessed for accuracy to 30 male undergraduates. There were positive but very slight relationships among the 2 kinds of accuracy and "A-ness" on the A-B scale. A Ss expressed more negative emotions in the role-taking task than the Bs whereas the Bs were calmer and more businesslike. The pattern of emotional expression of the As in role taking was also very similar to that of Ss who were accurate on the programmed case. Results are interpreted as consistent with a view of A-type individuals as intuitive, empathic, and having easy access to emotional processes, and of B-types as more rational and intellectualized in their approach to interpersonal situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-image bias in person perception.

Conducted 3 experiments using a total of 283 male and female high school students. Exp I demonstrated that the more desirable the self-rating on a personality characteristic, the more central that characteristic is in perceiving others. This self-image bias in person perception was hypothesized to reflect the defense mechanism protecting high self-evaluation. In Exp II it appeared that, consistent with this defense interpretation, there was lower self-image bias among Ss in a condition that reduced defensiveness by using objective self-awareness techniques. Exp II also suggested an alternative to this defense explanation: a purely cognitive process whereby self-image mediates external evaluative stimuli and centrality of characteristics. Exp III attempted to test this alternative explanation; results support a cognitive interpretation of self-image bias in person perception. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive interaction in person perception.

A review of the evidence concerning Osgood's congruity principle (CP) and a test of this principle with 78 Greek and 91 Illinois Ss suggest that the principle does not predict the perception of complex stimulus persons as well as a derivation from Fishbein's theory. Semantic differential (SD) judgments using concepts such as, Portuguese, Negro, Coal Miner, Same Religion As You, as well as SD judgments of the components entering these concepts, constituted the basic data. CP predictions and the obtained SD judgments of the complex stimuli correlated highly and significantly, but the judgments of the occupation of the complex stimuli correlated even more highly with the obtained SD judgments of the complex stimuli. A measure derived from Fishbein's theory correlated more highly with the judgments of the complex stimuli than the occupation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhancing target variance in personality impressions: Highlighting the person in person perception.

D. A. Kenny (1994) estimated the components of personality rating variance to be 15, 20, and 20% for target, rater, and relationship, respectively. To enhance trait variance and minimize rater variance, we designed a series of studies of personality perception in discussion groups (N?=?79, 58, and 59). After completing a Big Five questionnaire, participants met 7 times in small groups. After Meetings 1 and 7, group members rated each other. By applying the Social Relations Model (D. A. Kenny and L. La Voie, 1984) to each Big Five dimension at each point in time, we were able to evaluate 6 rating effects as well as rating validity. Among the findings were that (a) target variance was the largest component (almost 30%), whereas rater variance was small (less than 11%); (b) rating validity improved significantly with acquaintance, although target variance did not; and (c) no reciprocity was found, but projection was significant for Agreeableness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judgeability in person perception: The confidence of leaders.

Leaders are often expected to evaluate their team workers. In the present study, the authors investigated the hypothesis that leaders express social judgments with more confidence than subordinates. Leadership is assumed to play the role of a metainformational cue leading people to feel entitled to judge. In Study 1, supervisors in a Portuguese firm expressed their evaluations of colleagues and superiors. In Study 2, leadership was attributed on the basis of alleged competence. In Study 3, leadership was explicitly attributed on a random basis. The results of the 3 studies support the hypothesis and are discussed within the framework of social judgeability theory (J. P. Leyens, V. Y. Yzerbyt, & G. Schadron, 1992, 1994). The confidence of leaders may become a norm that is constructed by others. Practical implications are discussed. To the same extent that leadership often resides in the eyes of followers, confidence may originate in the mind of leaders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Frustration-aggression hypothesis: Examination and reformulation.

Examines the J. Dollard et al (1939) frustration–aggression hypothesis. The original formulation's main proposition is limited to interference with an expected attainment of a desired goal on hostile (emotional) aggression. Although some studies have yielded negative results, others support the core proposition. Frustrations can create aggressive inclinations even when they are not arbitrary or aimed at the subject personally. Interpretations and attributions can be understood partly in terms of the original analysis but they can also influence the unpleasantness of the thwarting. A proposed revision of the 1939 model holds that frustrations generate aggressive inclinations to the degree that they arouse negative affect. Evidence regarding the aggressive consequences of aversive events is reviewed, and L. Berkowitz's cognitive–neoassociationistic model is summarized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Traits and social stereotypes: Levels of categorization in person perception.

A theoretical distinction is made between trait categorization in person perception and categorization by means of well-articulated, concrete social stereotypes. Three studies test the prediction that social stereotypes are both more associatively rich and more distinctive than are trait-defined categories. In Study 1, subjects sorted adjectives related to extraversion and introversion. A cluster analysis using similarity measures derived from the sorting indicated that distinct social stereotypes were associated with each trait. This supports and extends earlier findings (Cantor & Mischel, 1979). In Study 2, subjects generated attributes of the trait categories and stereotypes that emerged in Study 1. More nonredundant attributes, especially visible features, were listed for the stereotypes than for the trait categories. Study 3 elicited the explicit associative structure of traits and related stereotypes by having subjects rate the association between a series of attributes (derived from the responses in Study 2) and each category label. Results showed that social stereotypes have distinctive features that are not shared with the related trait category, whereas trait categories share virtually all of their features with related stereotypes. The implications of the trait/stereotype distinction for social information processing are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examination of Gibson's psychophysical hypothesis.

The experimental evidence regarding Gibson's psychophysical hypothesis is examined. The presentation is divided into 2 sections dealing with static and transforming stimulation, respectively. Under the former heading the stimulation for surface, slant, and depth is considered. Under the latter heading the investigations of motion perspective, continuous perspective transformations, and size-transformations are examined. 2 general conclusions emerged from this examination: the psychophysical hypothesis has not been unequivocally confirmed and Gibson's theory requires revision to make explicit several recurrent implicit premises. (2 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tales of the unexpected: Executive function and person perception.

The present research investigated the role of executive functioning in person perception. Given the assumption that perceivers' recollective preference for unexpected material relies on the operation of an executive cognitive process (i.e., inconsistency resolution), it was anticipated that only under dual-task conditions in which executive functioning is impaired would one expect inconsistency resolution to be impaired and perceivers' memory bias for unexpected material to be eliminated. When concurrent mental activity impairs the operation of nonexecutive cognitive operations, inconsistency resolution and the related process of individuation were not expected to be impaired. The results of 2 experiments using different memory measures (e.g., free recall and source identification) supported these predictions. The findings are considered in the context of contemporary issues in person perception and executive functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affective and semantic components in political person perception.

In 2 national surveys, one with 280 and the other with 1,008 respondents, Ss ascribed personality traits to prominent national politicians and reported the feelings that the politicians elicited. It was found that summary scores of good feelings and bad feelings were nearly independent of each other, much more so than were good and bad trait judgments. Affective registrations, in short, were less semantically filtered and less subject to consistency pressures. Summary scores of affect strongly predicted political preference. This effect was independent of and more powerful than that for personality judgments. Thus, affective registrations were not at all redundant with semantic judgments. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reconstructing the past: Some cognitive consequences of person perception.

Investigated systematic retrospective distortions of past events precipitated by one's current beliefs about another individual. 212 undergraduates read an extensive narrative about the life of a woman named Betty K. Either immediately after reading the case history or 1 wk later, some participants learned that she was currently living a lesbian life-style; others learned that she was currently living a heterosexual life-style; still others learned nothing about her life-style. The impact of this new information on recognition memory for factual events in Betty K.'s life was assessed 1 wk after reading the case history. Ss selectively affirmed events that supported and bolstered their current interpretations of Betty K. Performance was the same whether Ss learned this information immediately after reading the case history or 1 wk later. Additional evidence suggests that these results are best characterized as the product of an interaction between stereotyped beliefs about sexuality and genuine memory for factual events. Implications of these findings for the nature, function, and consequences of social knowledge are discussed. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-serving biases in person perception: A reexamination of projection as a mechanism of defense.

Examines the evidence on projection as a mechanism of psychological defense, with emphasis on D. S. Holmes's (see PA, Vols 42:10594 and 62:3649) reviews. In contrast to Holmes's conclusions, it appears that there is strong support for 2 distinct mechanisms: (a) attributive projection in which a self-ascribed undesirable trait is projected onto favorably perceived target persons and (b) classical projection in which an undesirable trait that is denied is projected onto unfavorably perceived target persons. Although there is no research on the effects of classical projection, there is reliable evidence indicating that attributive projection has a stress-reducing effect. A broadened interactional formulation of self-serving biases in person perception is presented, and the implications for future research are discussed. (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The organizing function of interaction roles in person perception.

"The present experiment attempted to explore the effects of 3 'induced inferential sets' on the perception and evaluation of 2 radically different stimulus persons via a bogus tape recording. The Ss were asked to assume 1 of 3 different roles in evaluating the actions of a prisoner of war who had apparently given aid to the enemy… . The results show consistent and dramatic differences in the way the 2 stimulus persons were perceived. The intentionally varied information was picked up equally well by all Ss, regardless of set. The induced sets determined, however, how this information was interpreted." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neurocognitive underpinnings of face perception: Further evidence of distinct person and group perception processes.

A model of social perception is presented and tested. The model is based on cognitive neuroscience models and proposes that the right cerebral hemisphere is more efficient at processing combinations of features whereas the left hemisphere is superior at identifying single features. These processes are hypothesized to produce person and group-based representations, respectively. Individuating or personalizing experience with an outgroup member was expected to facilitate the perception of the individuating features and inhibit the perception of the group features. In the presented study, participants were asked to learn about various ingroup and outgroup targets. Later, participants demonstrated that categorization response speeds to old targets were slower in the left hemisphere than in the right, particularly for outgroup members, as predicted. These findings are discussed for their relevance to models of social perception and stereotyping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automaticity of chronically accessible constructs in person?×?situation effects on person perception: It's just a matter of time.

Models of Person?×?Situation influences on social behavior and judgment have invoked 2 distinct mechanisms: a personality disposition and a situational press. In this study we conceptualized both influences in terms of a single underlying mechanism, construct accessibility. We pitted the characteristic ways that individuals perceive others against situational influences on accessibility (i.e., contextual priming) and tracked over time the relative power of these competing influences on the outcome of an impression-formation task. Ss possessed either a chronically accessible (chronics) or an inaccessible (nonchronics) construct for either outgoing or inconsiderate behavior. As the delay since the priming event lengthened (from 15 to 180 s), chronics were progressively more likely to use the chronically accessible construct instead of the primed alternative construct to categorize an ambiguous target behavior, whereas nonchronics' relative use of the primed and alternative constructs did not change as a function of postpriming delay. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)