Luchins' classic study on impression formation has contributed to the widespread belief in the predominance of stable, trait like impressions in the person perception process. The present replication of Luchins' study demonstrates that subjects often infer change in others rather than maintain stable impressions. Subjects were provided with Luchins' original stimulus materials, but were led to believe that the behavioral inconsistencies occurred either close in time or further apart in time. As expected, participants who believed that they were observing behavioral inconsistencies separated in time tended to describe the person as having changed rather than employing stable trait ascriptions. Implications of the present findings for the widespread belief in the pervasiveness of stability judgments are discussed.
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