Person Perception

This paper aims to highlight the differences between men and women regarding impressionformation. It is based on secondary analysis of the data gathered in two previous experiments withsimilar conditions. However, the hypotheses formulated within this study have not been testedbefore. The current analysis was conducted on 86 participants, 47 males and 39 females. Their agesranged between 15 and 32, as they were either high school or university students engaged in amaster's program. Their task consisted of watching a 14 seconds long video of a female confederatereading a neutral text and then evaluating her using a semantic differential with four dimensions:sociability, ethics, power and activity. Based on previous studies, it was hypothesized that men andwomen will form different first impressions of the actor employed in the movie. More precisely, themajority of the studies undertaken in this area compare men and women's accuracy scores of facialexpressions decoding, yieldi...

Middle name initials are often used by people in contexts where intellectual performance matters. Given this association, middle initials in people’s names indicate intellectual capacity and performance (Van Tilburg and Igou, 2014). In the current research, we examined whether middle initials are associated with a typical academic indicator of intellectual performance: authorship order of journal articles. In psychology, authorship early in the author list of an article should correspond with greater contribution to this intellectual endeavor compared to authorship appearing later in the author list. Given that middle initials indicate intellectual capacity and performance, we investigated whether there would be a positive relationship between middle initials in author names and early (vs. late) appearance of names in author lists of academic journal articles in psychology. In two studies, we examined the relationship between amount of authors’ middle initials and authorship order. Study 1 used a sample of 678 articles from social psychology journals published in the years 2006 and 2007. Study 2 used a sample of 696 articles from journals of multiple sub-disciplines in psychology published in the years from 1970 to 2013. Middle initials in author names were overrepresented early (vs. late) in author lists. We discuss implications of our findings for academic decisions on authorship orders, potential avenues of further investigation, and applications.

Impression effects of videotaped dyadic interactions were compared with 3D-computer animations based on movement transcripts of the same interactions to determine whether similar effects could be obtained. One minute sequences of movement behavior taken from three different dyadic interactions were transcribed using the Bernese Coding System (BCS). Descriptive data were converted into animation scripts for professional animation software. Original video documents and computer animations were shown to separate groups of observers and their socio-emotional impressions were assessed on a standard adjective checklist. Only marginal differences were found between the two presentation modes. On the contrary, the data point to remarkable similarities in the impression ratings in both conditions, indicating that most of the relevant social information available to observers in the video recordings was also conveyed by computer animations. Overall, the data suggest that the systematic use of computer animation techniques in nonverbal research deserves further scientific attention.

Over the past few decades, two-factor models of social cognition have emerged as a dominant
framework for understanding impression development. These models suggest that two
dimensions – warmth and competence – are key in shaping our cognitive, emotional, and
behavioral reactions toward social targets. More recently, research has jettisoned the warmth
dimension, distinguishing instead between sociability (e.g., friendliness and likeability) and
morality (e.g., honesty and trustworthiness) and showing that morality is far more important than
sociability (and competence) in predicting the evaluations we make of individuals and groups.
Presenting research from our laboratories, we show that moral categories are central at all stages
of impression development, from implicit assumptions, to information gathering and to final
evaluations. Moreover, moral trait information has a dominant role in predicting people’s
behavioral reactions toward social targets. We also show that morality dominates impression
development, because it is closely linked to the essential judgment of whether another party’s
intentions are beneficial or harmful. Thus, our research informs a new framework for
understanding person and group perception: the Moral Primacy Model (MPM) of impression
development. We conclude by discussing how the MPM relates to classic and emerging models
of social cognition and by outlining a trajectory for future research.

Given the growing numbers of bicultural individuals in the United States and around the world, bicultural identity integration (BII) is an important construct that helps researchers to better capture the diversity within this group. In this chapter, we organize and summarize the limited literature on individual differences in bicultural identity, with a special focus on BII. First, we discuss and define biculturalism and cultural identity in general. Second, we introduce individual differences in bicultural identity and the ways in which these differences have been studied. Third, we define BII, summarize research on this construct, and introduce the latest applications of BII theory to other areas of identity research. In unpacking the construct of BII, we first define it along with its components (harmony and blendedness) and nomological network. We also discuss what we believe to be the process involved in integrating one’s dual cultural identities. We then present correlates of BII, including self-group personality perceptions, culturally related behaviors and values, and sociocultural and psychological adjustment. Finally, we discuss how BII relates to other important social-cognitive constructs, such as cultural frame switching or code switching. We end with a brief overview of the latest applications of BII theory (e.g., to gay identity) and suggestions for future research on bicultural identity. In summary, our goal for this chapter is to introduce BII and to help readers understand the importance of culture in identity.

Attribution theory aims to elucidate how ordinary people make sense of human behavior. It has followed two lines of research. One examines attribution as explanation: how people explain why a person performed a certain behavior. This research shows that people offer reasons for intentional behaviors and causes for unintentional behaviors. The other line of research examines how people infer unobservable states revealed in behavior. Inference and explanation are importantly connected, as inferences of unobservable states suggest plausible ways to explain a person's behavior. But only explanations are also communicative acts that help people create social meaning from behavior.

Three studies investigated conditions in which perceivers view dispositions and situations as interactive, rather than independent, causal forces when making judgments about another’s personality. Study 1 showed that perceivers associated 5 common trait terms (e.g., friendly and shy) with characteristic if . . . then . . . (if situation a, then the person does x, but if situation b, then the person does y) personality signatures. Study 2 demonstrated that perceivers used information about a target’s stable if . . . then . . . signature to infer the target’s motives and traits; dispositional judgments were mediated by inferences about the target’s motivations. Study 3 tested whether perceivers draw on if . . . then . . . signatures when making judgments about Big Five trait dimensions. Together, the findings indicate that perceivers take account of person–situation interactions (reflected in if . . . then . . . signatures) in everyday explanations of social behavior and personality dispositions. Boundary conditions are also discussed.

Given the growing numbers of bicultural individuals in the United States and around the world, bicultural identity integration (BII) is an important construct that helps researchers to better capture the diversity within this group. In this chapter, we organize and summarize the limited literature on individual differences in bicultural identity, with a special focus on BII. First, we discuss and define biculturalism and cultural identity in general. Second, we introduce individual differences in bicultural identity and the ways in which these differences have been studied. Third, we define BII, summarize research on this construct, and introduce the latest applications of BII theory to other areas of identity research. In unpacking the construct of BII, we first define it along with its components (harmony and blendedness) and nomological network. We also discuss what we believe to be the process involved in integrating one’s dual cultural identities. We then present correlates of BII, including self-group personality perceptions, culturally related behaviors and values, and sociocultural and psychological adjustment. Finally, we discuss how BII relates to other important social-cognitive constructs, such as cultural frame switching or code switching. We end with a brief overview of the latest applications of BII theory (e.g., to gay identity) and suggestions for future research on bicultural identity. In summary, our goal for this chapter is to introduce BII and to help readers understand the importance of culture in identity.

In attempting to make sense of others, perceivers regularly construct and use categorical representations (e.g. stereotypes) to streamline the person perception process. A debate that has dominated recent theorizing about the nature and function of these representations concerns the conditions under which they are activated in everyday life. The present article reviews this work and considers the automaticity of category activation in person perception.

The short narrates about the foundational interpreteation of music as a vast cognitive link between humans and between mind and body.
The short is based on life experience and takes a personal approach to the matter through the example of one of the legendary music bands of the 80's.

A sample of 208 male college students evaluated a briefly described stimulus person on 20 7-point bipolar scales which described personality traits and professional performance characteristics. Each subject rated one of 16 persons who were described as either female or male; never married, divorced, widowed, or unmarried; and employed in either a feminine or masculine sex-typed occupation. Female stimulus persons generally were rated more favorably than male stimulus persons. The personality traits of married persons of both sexes were evaluated more favorably than those of unmarried persons. Individuals in sex-typical and sex-atypical occupations received similar evaluations.

The current study explores the theory of symbolic attraction. The theory suggests that social identity consciousness moderates the relationship between symbolic inferences between organizations and attraction to those organizations. The study explored the two dimensions of social identity consciousness (i.e., social adjustment concern and value expression concern) as moderators of the relationship between organization personality perceptions (i.e., boy scout, innovativeness, dominance, style, and thrift) and organization attraction. The results of the study suggest that value expression concern moderates the relationships between boy scout, innovativeness, style, and thrift perceptions and attraction such that the relationships between these variables are stronger among those high on value expression concern. There was no support for social adjustment concern as a moderator of these relationships.

This study set out to explore how people feel (anxious vs angry) and attribute blame for criticism with the development of a new scale called the sensitivity to put-down scale. It was found that self-blame, but not blaming others for criticism, was associated with a number of psychopathology variables such as social anxiety, depression and shame. Blaming self (but not blaming others) was also associated with increased anger proneness and hostile attitudes. This study also found that those who see themselves as relatively down rank ...

Conceptual representations of warmth have been shown to be related to people's perceptions of ambient temperature. Based on this premise, we hypothesized that merely thinking about personality traits related to communion (but not agency) influences physical experience of warmth. Specifically, the three studies revealed that (a) perceptions of temperature are influenced by both positive and negative attributes within the communion but not agency dimension, (b) the effect is stronger when traits indicate sociability rather than morality sub-dimension of communion, and (c) communion activation affects temperature perceptions independently of target’s or self-perceptions.

Self-expression values are at an all-time high, and people are increasingly relying upon social media platforms to express themselves positively and accurately. We examined whether self-expression on the social media platform Twitter elicits positive and accurate social perceptions. Eleven perceivers rated 128 individuals (targets; total dyadic impressions = 1,408) on their impulsivity, self-esteem, and attachment style, based solely on the information provided in targets’ 10 most recent tweets. Targets were on average perceived normatively and with distinctive self-other agreement, indicating both positive and accurate social perceptions. There were also individual differences in how positively and accurately targets were perceived, which exploratory analyses indicated may be partially driven by differential word usage, such as the use of positive emotion words and self- versus other-focus. This study demonstrates that self-expression on social media can elicit both positive and accurate perceptions and begins to shed light on how to curate such perceptions.

Nontraditional students are a growing population in higher education, yet our understanding of the unique factors that predict their success have not increased. Economic challenges, changing work demands, and the desire for personal and professional advancement fuel the nontraditional student's return to school (Kelly & Strawn, 2011). Their isolation and lack of social networks lead to poor academic outcomes as

This study aims to highlight some of the factors influencing first impression formation. The experiment was conducted on 106 subjects. The first impression was measured using a semantic differential which was constructed for this purpose and consists of four dimensions: sociability, moral conduct, power and activity. We hypothesized that focusing attention on different nonverbal cues as well as sound manipulation will determine observers to form different first impressions of the same person. Our study subscribes to the differential information theory (Rebecca M. Warner and D. B. Sugarman, 1986), which the results obtained seem to support.

DOI: 10.1177/01461672012712004 2001 27: 1599 Pers Soc Psychol Bull Zakary L. Tormala and Richard E. Petty On-Line Versus Memory-Based Processing: The Role of ''Need to Evaluate'' in Person Perception ... PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY ...

The current study aimed to discover the meaning behind the common person descriptions ''no personality" and ''a lot of personality." Participants provided narrative descriptions of both terms and rated the personalities of two fictional characters, one with ''no personality" and one with ''a lot of personality," how much they liked each character, how central each character was in their story, and confidence in their ratings. Qualitative analysis found that four domains described ''no personality" and eight described ''a lot of personality." Characters with a lot of personality were more liked, higher in extraversion, agreeableness, and openness, and less likely to be incidental characters. Finally, participants were less confident in their ratings for extraversion, openness, and agreeableness for ''no personality."

The present study renorms and expands upon a list of person descriptive words originally compiled by Anderson (1968). Anderson observed that person descriptive words had a bimodal and slightly negative distribution. Averill (1980) localized this negativity to emotion words, finding no difference for non-emotional words. Likeability ratings observed in the original study and the present study were highly correlated. Despite these similarities, significant differences in likability were observed across a large proportion of words. There was some evidence that words describing emotions and temporary states were unusually negative suggesting that either negative behavior is categorized differently or that the granularity of negative behavior differs across kinds of person descriptive words.

We test the common assumption that information ‘rich’ contexts lead to more accurate personality judgments than information ‘lean’ contexts. Pairs of unacquainted students rendered judgments of one another's personalities after interacting in one of three, increasingly rich, contexts: Internet ‘chat’, telephone, or face-to-face. Accuracy was assessed by correlating participants' judgments with a measure of targets' personalities that averaged self and informant ratings. As predicted, the visible traits of extraversion and conscientiousness were judged more accurately than the less visible traits of neuroticism and openness. However, judgment accuracy also depended on context. Judgments of extraversion and neuroticism improved as context richness increased (i.e., from Internet ‘chat’ to face-to-face), whereas judgments of conscientiousness and openness improved ascontext richness decreased (i.e., from face-to-face to Internet ‘chat’). Our findings suggest that context richness shapes not only the availability of personality cues but also the relevance of cues in any given context.