Impression formation How do we form judgements and

Asch’s paradigm Those who saw the first group (warm) of adjectives usually form a

Asch’s configural model This approach is known as the configural model The cold and

Class experiment WARM N 1 = 15+6 COLD N 2 = 14+6 11+5 4+2

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Impression formation How do we form judgements and impressions of people? Are some types of information more important than other? What are the approaches to the study of impression formation?

Asch’s paradigm Those who saw the first group (warm) of adjectives usually form a more positive impression of the person. Asch’s (1946) explanation was that we form impressions using some kind of gestalt or ‘whole picture’, with each piece of information influencing the others. an intelligent & warm person generates a positive impression an intelligent & cold person generates a negative impression Ash, S. (1946). Forming impressions of personality. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 41, 258 -290.

Asch’s configural model This approach is known as the configural model The cold and warm traits have a strong effect on the interpretation of the surrounding traits These are termed CENTRAL traits because of their influence Other traits do not have the same power: polite / blunt Traits which appear first have more impact in final impression (primacy effect)

Class experiment WARM N 1 = 15+6 COLD N 2 = 14+6 11+5 4+2 Generous Ungenerous Unhappy Happy 2+0 5+1 Irritable Good. Natured 3+1 11+6 Sociable Unsociable 13+3 3+1 Unreliable Reliable 0+0 Ruthless Humane 1+0 8+0 Goodlooking Unattractive 4+3 10+3 Restrained Talkative 9+3 11+5 Dishonest Honest 2+1 1+1