Requesting information to form an impression: The influence of valence and confirmatory status

Abstract

The present study examines the impact of the valence and the confirmatory status of trait information on impression formation by giving subjects an opportunity to play an active role in their reception of information. In two experiments subjects indicated who, out of a series of candidates, corresponded to an a priori personality profile. These profiles were either positive or negative in tone. Also, whereas some profiles comprised univalent evidence (all personality traits were either positive or negative), others included mixed evidence (most traits were either positive or negative together with a few that were opposite). On the basis of earlier research on dispositional inference using behavioral instances as the cues for judgment, we expected the positive traits to carry less weight than the negative ones. Thus, subjects were predicted to require a greater number of positive traits than negative ones before making a decision. Subjects were also expected to request more traits when these confirmed rather than disconfirmed their expectations. The obtained pattern of data strongly supports our hypotheses. As a whole, the data indicate the existence of a “necessity-oriented” decision rule, as well as the presence of strong constraints in people's implicit theories of personality. Implications are drawn for further research on stereotypes and on lay epistemology.