Judgments of warmth and competence in a computerized paradigm: Little evidence of proposed impression formation asymmetries

PLoS One. 2017 Apr 7;12(4):e0175210. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0175210. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Much of what we know concerning impression formation is based on experimental methods where the participant receives a list of traits or behaviors and is asked to make trait judgments or meta-cognitive judgments. The present study aimed to put some well-known effects from the impression formation literature to a test in a more dynamic computerized environment, more akin to many real world impression formation scenarios. In three studies participants were introduced to multiple target persons. They were given information about the target persons' behavior, one at a time, while making ratings of their warmth and competence, and their probability of performing related behaviors in the future. In neither of the studies the negativity effect of warmth or the positivity effect of competence were reproduced.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Computers*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Judgment*
  • Male
  • Social Behavior*
  • Social Perception*
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council, grant VR 2008: 2349. http://vrproj.vr.se/detail.asp?arendeid=60232. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.