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Assimilation and Contrast Effects in Spontaneous Trait Inference

New York University

James S. Uleman

New York University

Previous research has shown that the trait implication of a behavior cues recall of that behavior even when subjects have no impression formation goals. This suggests that trait inferences are made spontaneously at encoding, but alternative explanations have suggested that retrieval processes alone can account for these data. In Experiment 1, encoding conditions were varied by subtly priming alternative traits relevant to ambiguous behaviors. Contrary to retrieval interpretations, the effectiveness of trait cues varied with the nature of the primes and awareness of the primes at encoding. Primes led to both assimilation and contrast effects and seemed to operate primarily by inhibiting alternative trait constructs. In Experiment 2, contrast effects were found with the same stimuli when priming was blatant and inferences were made intentionally. Results are discussed in terms of the role of construct activation and inhibition in spontaneous and intentional trait inferences.

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