Context Effects in Person Perception as a Function of Dogmatism

Abstract

48 Ss each judged 6 test photographs of adult males which had been previously judged to be neutral on the tense-relaxed dimension. Four Ss were assigned to each cell of the 2 × 3 × 2 experimental design, which included sex of S, level of dogmatism (high, middle, and low), and nature of the 6 anchor photographs which preceded the test photographs (tense or relaxed anchors). The neutral photos were judged to be more relaxed when preceded by the tense anchors and were judged more tense when preceded by the relaxed anchors. Dogmatism was not a significant source of variance. Female Ss tended to respond more strongly to the tense anchor and to judge the neutral photos as being more relaxed than did the male Ss.