Primacy and Recency Effects with Descriptions of Moral and Immoral Behavior

Abstract

Abstract Studied impressions of personality when descriptions of honest (H) or dishonest (D) behavior, based on Hartshorne and May's (1928) situational tests of deceit, were used instead of or in addition to descriptions of extrovert (E) or introvert (I) behavior. Experiments with 100 college or high school students showed very different responses to the H and D descriptions, even for questions not bearing on honest or dishonest behavior. When the H and D descriptions were combined without paragraph indentations as HD or DH descriptions, subjects expressed more awareness of inconsistencies than they did when the E and I blocks were combined. Primacy effects prevailed but were weaker for the DH and HD communications than for the EI or IE communications. The D block exerted a stronger primacy effect than did the H block, as did the I block, as compared to the E block. When a questionnaire was given after the D or H information and again after the E or I information, responses to the D block were strikingly ...