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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
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Effects of Accessibility and Subjective Relevance on the Use of Piecemeal and Category Information in Impression Formation

Catalina Köpetz

University of Maryland, College Park, ckopetz{at}psyc.umd.edu

Arie W. Kruglanski

University of Maryland, College Park

Three studies investigated the process by which categorical and individuating information impacts impression formation. The authors assumed that (a) both types of information are functionally equivalent in serving as evidence for interpersonal judgments and (b) their use is determined by their accessibility and perceived applicability to the impression's target. The first study constituted an extended replication of Pavelchak's experiment, and it showed that its results, initially interpreted to suggest the primacy in impression formation of category over trait information, may have been prompted by differential accessibility of the category versus trait information in some experimental conditions of the original research. Studies 2 and 3 additionally explored the role of informational accessibility manipulated in different ways. Study 3 demonstrated also that the effect of accessibility is qualified by the information's apparent relevance to the judgmental target.

Key Words: impression formation • category • traits • accessibility • relevance

This version was published on May 1, 2008

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 34, No. 5, 692-705 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167207313730
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