Effects of Behavioral and Social Class Information on Social Judgment

Abstract

Social class schemata appear to affect perceivers' judgments of targets under conditions of stimulus ambiguity. In 1990 E. E. Jones noted that there are insufficient data to determine the effect of clearly disconfirming behavioral information and that the limits on social class schema effects are in need of investigation. This was the focus of the present research. Guided descriptively by a Bayesian model of social perception, the authors predicted and found that unambiguous, relevant stimulus information influenced judgments whereas social class information had no effect. Social class information did, however; affect judgments in a no-information condition. This basic result replicated in two experiments among populations that themselves varied in social class composition, thereby demonstrating the generalizability of the findings. Implications of these data for social perception in a stimulus-rich context are discussed.