EFFECTS OF INGRATIATION, TOUCH, AND USE OF NAME ON EVALUATION OF JOB APPLICANTS AND INTERVIEWERS

Abstract

Videotapes were made of male actors playing the roles of interviewers and job applicants in an interview for the position of research assistant. During the four-minute interview, interviewers either touched or did not touch the job applicants, they either used or did not use the applicants' first names, and they were presented as being in an ingratiating or a non-ingratiating position with regard to the job applicants. The videotapes were shown to introductory psychology students (n = 90) for affective ratings of the interviewers and job applicants. Name-using interviewers were characterized most significantly as being friendly, warm, and polite. Interviewer touching did not influence ratings of interviewers, but did have a significant effect on evaluations of job applicants. When an inter-viewer who was initially described as uninterested in a job applicant shook the applicant's hand, the applicant was evaluated as more sincere and as liking the interviewer more, but also as less intelligent and somewhat less polite. It was concluded that behaviors of interviewers can influence perceptions of job applicants as well as perceptions of interviewers. The attempt to manipulate interviewer ingratiation was not successful and a more effective treatment for ingratiation was suggested.