In each of two studies, subjects were asked to form an impression of a fictional character on the basis of a set of adjectives describing the person and behaviors attributed to the person. The list of behaviors described actions that were either consistent or inconsistent with the set of adjectives, and the ratio of consistent to inconsistent behaviors was varied. In the first study, university and elderly subjects studied the information without distraction. For university students, the behaviors were presented at a 8-s rate, and for the elderly subjects the presentation rate was either 8 or 15 s. In the second study, university students studied the information without distraction or while performing a counting task under the 8-s presentation rate. The extremity of impression ratings in both studies was affected directly by the number of behaviors at both rates of presentation, but was not affected by the favorableness of the behaviors. Recall was affected jointly by the rate of presentation, the proportion of behaviors consistent with the adjectives, and the favorableness of the behaviors. The results were interpreted to support the hypothesis that impression formation and recall of specific behaviors are governed by distinct processing systems. Whereas person memory relies on a resource-based system, impression formation is dependent on the operation of a relatively automatic system.