Trait-implying Behaviors Research Articles

Similarity to the self influences memory for social targets

ABSTRACT The construct of the self is important in the domain of memory research. Recent work has shown that person memory is influenced by similarity of social targets to the self. The current experiments investigate self-similarity as defined by traits and political ideology to better understand how memory for social targets is organised. Across three experiments, participants formed positive or negative impressions based on each target’s picture, a trait-implying behavior (Experiments 1 & 2), and/or political ideology (conservative/liberal label in Experiment 2; political-ideological belief statements in Experiment 3) followed by a memory test. Results showed a self-similarity effect dependent on valence in Experiment 1, but not in Experiments 2 or 3 when participants processed ideological information associated with targets. These results suggest that self-similarity has an effect on memory for social targets, but that ideological information disrupts self-focused processing of others, suggesting that ideological information also has a powerful influence on what people remember about others (i.e. social targets).

Person Memory Mechanism Underlying Approach and Avoidance Judgments of Social Targets

People display approach and avoidance tendencies toward social targets. Although much research has studied the factors that affect decisions to approach or avoid targets, less work has investigated whether cognitive factors, such as episodic memory (e.g., details remembered about others from previous encounters) contribute to such judgments. Across two experiments, participants formed positive or negative impressions of targets based on their picture, a trait-implying behavior (Experiments 1 & 2), and their political ideology (conservative or liberal; Experiment 2). Memory and approach/avoidance decisions for targets were then measured. Results showed remembering negative impressions about targets increased avoidance responses, whereas remembering positive impressions increased approach responses. Strikingly, falsely remembering negative impressions for novel social targets (not seen before) also induced avoidance. Results suggest remembering negative information about targets, whether correctly or falsely, strongly influences future social judgments. Overall, these data support an episodic memory mechanism underlying subsequent approach/avoidance judgments, which is a rich area for future research.

The neural correlates of Chinese children's spontaneous trait inferences: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence.

The results of multiple behavioral investigations indicate that children can develop spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) starting from when they are 8-9 years of age. However, little is known about the neural correlates of STIs when they first develop. In the present study, we measured event-related potentials (ERPs) and event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) using an N400 paradigm. Seventeen 9-year-old Chinese children were first instructed to remember facial photos and paired trait-implying behaviors. Subsequently, they performed a lexical decision task in which faces were used to prime the inferred traits or their antonyms. Compared to the inferred traits, the antonyms exhibited a stronger amplitude on both N400 (370-500 ms) and negative slow wave (NSW; 550-800 ms). However, only N400 showed a right hemispheric dominance of STIs. In addition, ERSP results revealed stronger lower alpha band (7-10 Hz) activity for antonyms than inferred traits over the right parieto-occipital area from 420 ms to 800 ms. These findings, coupled with the electroencephalography (EEG) source localization (standardized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography [sLORETA]), provide evidence for a "monitoring-control" two-stage neural network.

The effect of stereotype activation on spontaneous inferences

We adopted the probe recognition paradigm to examine the effect of stereotype activation on spontaneous inferences among Chinese undergraduates (N = 48). First, behavioral sentences involving trait-implying behavior and corresponding situational information were simultaneously presented. We then selected stereotype labels of the actor's behavior that were consistent or inconsistent with the behavior, and which were activated either supraliminally or subliminally. The results showed that whether a stereotype was activated supraliminally or subliminally, the influence on spontaneous inferences was the same. Specifically, when the stereotype was inconsistent with the actor's behavior, spontaneous situational inferences were facilitated, and when the stereotype was consistent with the actor's behavior, spontaneous trait inferences were not facilitated. As Chinese people may be more prone to spontaneous (vs. trait) inferences, this indicates that human inferences are deeply influenced by culture.

The Primacy-of-Warmth Effect on Spontaneous Trait Inferences and the Moderating Role of Trait Valence: Evidence From Chinese Undergraduates.

Research has shown that warmth and competence are the fundamental content dimensions underlying social judgment, and warmth judgments are primary. However, the overwhelming majority of research concerning “primacy-of-warmth” rests on trait judgment or lexical recognition, and little attention has been paid to spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) that are made on exposure to trait-implying behaviors. Two studies were performed to examine the primacy-of-warmth effect on STIs and to further explore whether trait valence moderates the effect. Consistent with our expectations, the results of Experiments 1 and 2 (for spontaneous trait activation and spontaneous trait binding, respectively) consistently demonstrated the primacy-of-warmth on STIs. Participants were more likely to draw STIs from behaviors implying warmth traits than those implying competence traits. Moreover, the primacy-of-warmth effect on STIs was moderated by trait valence. In concrete terms, participants were more likely to draw STIs from negative warmth behavioral sentences than negative competence behavioral sentences, whereas participants draw STIs from positive warmth behavioral sentences and from positive competence behavioral sentences equally. An original contribution made by our study is that we obtained the primacy-of-warmth effect on STIs, providing further evidence for the primacy-of-warmth effect in the domain of implicit social cognition.

Trait transference from brands to individuals: The impact of brand-behavior congruency

Consumers' strategic use of brands as a way of influencing the impressions others have about them is buttressed by research showing that brand personality traits may carry over and affect perceptions about their users or endorsers. However more often than not brand users engage in all sorts of trait-implying behaviors that may sometimes be in conflict with the brand personality. In two studies we explored how perceivers integrate these two sources of information when creating first impressions of brand users. Results indicated that when traits associated with brands and the users' trait-implying behaviors were in conflict, brand trait transferences were inhibited, whereas traits inferred from the behaviors were enhanced. These findings concerning brand trait transference inhibition and trait inference enhancement may provide new insights on how brand personality influences perceptions about their users, with distinctive consequences for marketing strategy.

Do Bosses and Subordinates Make Spontaneous Trait Inferences Equally Often? The Effects of Power on Spontaneous Trait Inferences

Spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) are trait inferences that people make upon exposure to trait-implying behaviors. Extending prior research examining the effects of power on intentional trait inferences, two experiments were conducted to explore the effects of power on spontaneous trait inferences for the first time. Using the essay-writing task (Experiment 1) and the scrambled sentence task (Experiment 2) to activate power within the participants, the results of both experiments showed that high-power individuals more readily drew STIs from trait-implying behaviors than low-power individuals. The current research provides further evidence regarding the functionality of STIs.

Flexibility of Spontaneous Trait Inferences: The Interactive Effects of Mood and Gender Stereotypes

Recent research has indicated that people draw spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) flexibly from others’ behaviors. In two experiments, we examined how perceiver's mood states and actor's gender-behavior stereotypic consistency affected the likelihood of STIs. In Experiment 1, positive mood participants made STIs from trait-implying behavior sentences, while those in negative moods did not draw such trait inferences. In Experiment 2, we further examined the role of gender stereotypes in the effects of mood on STIs and found that positive mood participants made STIs only from gender stereotype-consistent behaviors, not from gender stereotype-inconsistent behaviors, while negative mood participants still did not make STIs regardless of gender stereotype consistency. Extending prior work, we provided initial evidence for the flexible formation of STIs in response to perceiver's mood states and actor's gender-behavior stereotypic consistency.

On being judged by the company you keep: The effects of group consensus and target behavior on impressions of individual group members

Three studies were conducted to examine how trait judgments of target individuals are affected by the number of others in their groups who perform trait-implying behaviors that the targets do or do not engage in themselves. Hypotheses were advanced based on associative transference, perceived similarity, discounting, social comparison, and memory confusion. Results of the studies indicate that judgments of targets were systematically affected by the number of other group members who engaged in a trait-implying behavior, but that these effects differed depending on whether the target also engaged in the behavior. Assimilation occurred for targets who did not actually engage in a trait-implying behavior, in that they were perceived as having more of the implied trait as the number of other group members performing that behavior increased. However contrast, rather than assimilation, occurred for targets who did engage in the behavior, in that they were perceived as having less of the implied trait as the number of other group members performing the behavior increased. Follow-up analyses indicate that these effects were partially, but not entirely, mediated by memory confusion, with transference and perhaps discounting also theorized to play roles.

The Development of Spontaneous Trait Inferences: Evidence from Chinese Children

Spontaneous trait inferences are trait inferences that are made without intention or conscious awareness on exposure to trait-implying behaviors. Most studies in the area of spontaneous trait inferences have been undertaken with adults, but little attention has been paid to the developmental course. Using a recognition probe paradigm, the current study was performed to examine the development of Chinese children's spontaneous trait inferences, comparing 8-, 9-, 10-, 11-, and 12-year-olds. Results indicated that children could infer traits from trait-implying behaviors spontaneously from the age of 8 years. Moreover, the strength of spontaneous trait inferences peaked at age 10 years, and decreased steadily from ages 10 through 12. These results suggest developmental changes in the tendency to engage in spontaneous trait inferences.

Social class differences in N400 indicate differences in spontaneous trait inference.

An emerging literature indicates that dispositional bias in causal attribution of social behavior is weaker for people with working-class (vs. middle-class) backgrounds. However, it is unknown whether this difference is also present in spontaneous forms of trait inference. In the current work, American undergraduates were asked to merely memorize many pairings of a target face and a trait-implying behavior. In a subsequent lexical judgment task, after each face was presented as a fixation, either an implied trait or its antonym was given as a target. As expected, participants with college-educated parents (middle class) showed a strong N400 event-related potential component to the antonym (vs. the implied trait), suggesting spontaneous trait inference during the memorization phase. In contrast, those with high-school-educated parents (working class) showed no such effect. It is important to note that the N400 spontaneous trait inference effect was associated with perceived significance of dispositions in accounting for social behaviors.

Spontaneous Trait Inference Is Culture-Specific

People with an independent model of the self may be expected to develop a spontaneous tendency to infer a personality trait from another person’s behavior, but those with an interdependent model of the self may not show such a tendency. We tested this prediction by assessing the cumulative effect of both trait activation and trait binding in a diagnostic task that required no trait inference. Participants first memorized pairings of facial photos with trait-implying behavior. In a subsequent lexical decision task, European Americans showed clear evidence of spontaneous trait inference: When they were primed with a previously studied face, lexical decision for the word for the implied trait associated with that face was facilitated, and the antonym of the implied trait elicited an electrophysiological sign associated with processing of semantically inconsistent information (i.e., the N400). As predicted, however, neither effect was observed for Asian Americans. The cultural difference was mediated by independent self-construal.

Moods as spotlights: The influence of mood on accessibility effects.

Three studies explore the manner in which one's mood may affect the use and impact of accessible information on judgments. Specifically, the authors demonstrated that positive and negative moods differentially influence the direction of accessibility effects (assimilation, contrast) by determining whether abstract traits or concrete actor-trait links are primed. Study 1 investigated the impact of positive versus negative mood on the judgmental impact of trait-implying behaviors and found that positive moods lead to assimilation and negative moods to contrast. In Study 2, this effect was replicated in a subliminal priming paradigm. In Study 3, it was demonstrated that the type of information activated by trait-implying behaviors is indeed mood dependent, such that abstract trait information is activated in a positive mood, whereas specific actor-trait links are activated in a negative mood.

The Person Reference Process in Spontaneous Trait Inferences.

Five studies examined whether spontaneous trait inferences uniquely reference the person who performed a trait-implying behavior. On each study trial in 5 studies, participants saw 2 faces and a behavioral sentence referring to one of them. Later, participants saw face-trait pairs and indicated whether they had seen the trait word in the sentence presented with the face. Participants falsely recognized implied traits more when these traits were paired with actors' faces than with control faces. This effect was replicated for a large set effaces (120), after a week delay between study and recognition test, when equal attention was paid to each face, and when the orientation of the face at recognition was different from the orientation at encoding.

Spontaneous trait inferences are bound to actors' faces: Evidence from a false recognition paradigm.

A false recognition paradigm showed that spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) are bound to the person performing a trait-implying behavior. In 6 experiments, participants memorized faces and behavioral sentences. When faces were paired with implied traits in a recognition test, participants falsely recognized these traits more often than unrelated traits paired with the same faces or the same traits paired with familiar faces. The effect was obtained for a large set of behaviors (120). each presented for 5 s, and for behaviors that participants did not subsequently recognize or recall. Antonyms of the implied traits were falsely recognized less often than unrelated traits, suggesting that STIs have extended implications. Explicit person-trait judgments predicted both false recognition and response times for implied traits.

Effects of Culture and Processing Goals on the Activation and Binding of Trait Concepts

Two studies compared spontaneous trait use by Latinos and Anglo-Americans, with trait-implying behaviors equated over cultures on their intentional trait implications. In Study 1, only Anglos showed activation of trait concepts on a lexical decision task. In Study 2, with the more complex stimuli set, Anglos showed greater binding (linkage) of trait concepts and/or behaviors to the actors performing the behaviors. Results were consistent with the more frequent use of trait terms by Euro-Americans than by those from collectivist cultures, especially in open-ended self-descriptions and causal explanations, and illustrate the value of investigating activation and binding as two separable stages of spontaneous trait inference. The results also show that spontaneous inferences can reveal cultural differences that intentional inferences do not.