Some Effects of Stimulus Typicality in an Impression Formation Task

Abstract

It was hypothesized that the greater the number of people who could be described with a particular trait the less “information” in that trait and, hence, the less weight it would be given in an impression formation list. 187 adjectives previously scaled for likeability were scaled for information. Eight impression formation lists were formed by systematically varying 2 blocks of selected adjectives per list with respect to order, likeability, and information. Males conformed to the information hypothesis on change in impression and on over-all impression especially with respect to the information content of the positive adjectives (p < .05). Females did not conform to the hypothesis. A significant (p < .001) recency effect was obtained.

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