Attention and Weight in Person Perception: The Impact of Negative and Extreme Behavior

Abstract

Analyzed the social perception process to determine whether selectivity of available stimuli is based on the informativeness of person attributes, the properties of which are the evaluative extremity (distance from the scale midpoint) and the evaluative valence (positive or negative). In a preliminary scaling study and a main weighting study, 126 undergraduates independently rated the likability of the 16 stimuli persons portrayed on slides. Negativity and extremity were manipulated on the slides across 2 behavioral dimensions: sociability and civic activism. Ss saw 2 prescaled behavior photographs for each stimulus person and controlled a slide changer switch, providing a measure of attention as looking time. Likability ratings provided a measure of relative weight derived from N. H. Anderson's (1968) information integration model. Results show that Ss preferentially weighted behaviors that were extreme or negative, and the behavioral measure of attention (looking time) replicated the predicted pattern. (58 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)