The determination of trait redundancy in personality impression formation

Abstract

Redundancy, or interrelatedness of traits, was determined either by having Ss select traits from a master list which were implied by a given trait or by having them rate the likelihood of one trait implying another. Methods yielded comparable results. Consistent with expectations, redundancy was found to attenuate the set-size effect in impression formation. Increases in response polarity, with increased number of descriptive traits, were greater in sets of nonredundant, as compared to redundant, traits.