Two experiments examined the effects of a number of motivated encoding strategies (anticipated-interaction, impression formation, later use, self-comparison, friend comparison, and memory instructions) on the recall and cognitive organization of information about multiple target persons. As in past research on the effects of motivated encoding strategies on the cognitive processing of information about a single target, memory instructions produced the lowest levels of recall. However in contrast to past research, no instruction set produced evidence of higher cognitive individuation of targets than memory instructions. The results are discussed in the context of two alternative models of person memory the associative network model and the elaboration model.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Devine, P. G. , & Ostrom, T. M. (1985). Cognitive mediation of inconsistency discounting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 5-21.
2.
Devine, P. G. , Sedikides, C., & Fuhrman, R. W. (1989). Goals in social information processing: The case of anticipated interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 680-690.
3.
Hamilton, D. L. , Katz, L. B., & Leirer, V. O. (1980). Organizational processes in impression formation. In R. Hastie, T. M. Ostrom, E. B. Ebbesen, R. S. Wyer, D. L. Hamilton, & D. E. Carlston (Eds.), Person memory: The cognitive basis of social perception (pp. 121-154). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
4.
Higgins, E. T. , & Bargh, J. A. (1987). Social cognition and social perception. Annual Review of Psychology, 38, 369-425.
5.
Kihlstrom, J. F. , Cantor, N., Albright, J. S., Chew, B. R., Klein, S. B., & Neidenthal, P. M. (1987). Information processing and the study of the self. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 145-177). Orlando, FLAcademic Press.
6.
Klein, S. B. , & Loftus, J. (1990). Rethinking the role of organization in person memory: An independent trace storage model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 400-410.
7.
Murphy, M. D. , & Puff, C. R. (1982). Free recall: Basic methodology and analyses. In C. R. Puff (Ed.), Handbook of research methods in human memory and cognition (pp. 99-128). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
8.
Neuberg, S. L. , & Fiske, S. T. (1987). Motivational influences on impression formation: Outcome dependency, accuracy-driven attention, and individuation processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 431-444.
9.
Ostrom, T. M. (1989). Three catechisms for social memory. In P. R. Soloman, G. R. Goethals, C. M. Kelley, & B. R. Stephens (Eds.), Memory: Interdisciplinary approaches (pp. 201-220). New York: Springer-Verlag.
10.
Park, B. , & Hastie, R. (1987). Perception of variability in category development Instance-versus abstraction-based stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 621-635.
11.
Pryor, J. B. , & Ostrom, T. M. (1981). The cognitive organization of social information: A converging operations approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 628-641.
12.
Pryor, J. B. , & Ostrom, T. M. (1987). Social cognition theory and group processes. In B. Mullen & G. R. Goethals (Eds.), Theories of group behavior (pp. 147-183). New York: Springer-Verlag.
13.
Roenker, D. L. , Thompson, C. P., & Brown, S. C. (1971). Comparison of measures for the estimation of clustering in free recall. Psychological Bulein, 76, 45-48.
14.
Sedikides, C. , & Ostrom, T. M. (1988). Are person categories used when organizing information about unfamiliar sets of persons?Social Cognition, 6, 252-267.
15.
Showers, C. , & Cantor, N. (1985). Social cognition: A look at motivated strategies. Annual Review of Psychology, 36, 275-305.
16.
Sorrentino, R. M. , & Higgins, E. T. (Eds.). (1986). Handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior (Vol. 1). New York: Guilford Press.
17.
Sorrentino, R. M. , & Higgins, E I (Eds.). (1990). Handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior (Vol. 2). New York: Guilford Press.
18.
Srull, T. K. (1981). Person memory: Some tests of associative storage and retrieval models. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 7, 440-463.
19.
Srull, T. K. (1983). Organizational and retrieval processes in person memory: An examination of processing objectives, presentation format, and the possible role of self-generated retrieval cues. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 1157-1170.
20.
Srull, T. K. , & Brand, J. F. (1983). Memory for information about persons: The effect of encoding operations upon subsequent retrieval. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 22, 219-230.
21.
Srull, T. K. , Lichtenstein, M., & Rothbart, M. (1985). Associative storage and retrieval processes in person memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory, and Cognition, 11, 316-345.
22.
Srull, T. K. , & Wyer, R. S. (1986). The role of chronic and temporary goals in social information processing. In R. M. Sorrentino & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior (pp. 503-549). New York: Guilford Press.
23.
Srull, T. K. , & Wyer, R. S. (1989). Person memory and judgmentPsychological Review, 96, 58-83.
24.
Wyer, R. S. , & Carlston, D. (1979). Social cognition, inference, and attribution. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
25.
Wyer, R. S. , & Gordon, S. E. (1982). The recall of information about persons and groups. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 18, 128-164.
26.
Wyer, R. S. , & Gordon, S. E. (1984). The cognitive representation of social information. In R. S. Wyer & T. K. Srull (Eds.), Handbook of social cognition (Vol. 2, pp. 73-150). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
27.
Wyer, R. S. , & Martin, L. L. (1986). Person memory: The role of traits, group stereotypes, and specific behaviors in the cognitive representation of persons. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 661-675.
28.
Wyer, I. S. , Srull, T. K., Gordon, S. E., & Hartwick, J. (1982). Effects of processing objectives on the recall of prose memory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 674-688.
