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Uleman Kressel 2013 Carlston Ch04
Uleman Kressel 2013 Carlston Ch04
Abstract
Why do we view people as we do? What is scientifically tractable, in that view? How did subjective con-
cepts such as traits become legitimate “objects of perception”? Thorndike, Asch, and Cronbach were
critical. This chapter traces Asch’s legacy to the present and describes the strange independence of
research on accuracy from social cognition. Impressions’ internal organization (not accuracy) became the
foundation of research on the Big Two (warmth and competence), facial trait dimensions, and morality’s
unique status. Associative memory structures and schemata provided the language. The unique impact
of negative information is reviewed, along with behaviors’ diagnosticity and how the morality and com-
petence domains differ. The chapter highlights the importance of goals in shaping impressions, of forming
impressions without goals (spontaneously), and of stages in forming spontaneous trait inferences. It also
notes the importance of social cognitive transference, perceptions of persons and groups, and concep-
tions of persons as moral agents and objects.
Key Words: accuracy, competence, diagnosticity, goal, impression, morality, spontaneous,
subjective, unconscious, warmth
Hindsight is 20/20, they say derisively. It can- Understanding impression formation has prob-
not isolate causes or predict the future. There are no ably been a human concern ever since our ancestors
control groups, and who’s to say it could not have had the metacognitive realization that impressions
been otherwise. We are experimental social psychol- do form and are not simply reflections of some real-
ogists, plagued by counterfactuals and mistrustful ity out there—ever since, putting aside naïve real-
of post hoc explanations. So take this brief selective ism and assumed similarity, one person gestured
history with a large grain of salt. or grunted to another, “How could you possibly
Also note that any history of impression forma- believe that about them?” Rossano (2007) argued
tion is, in part, a history of how we have viewed our- that as long ago as the Upper Paleolithic (late Stone
selves. More than most topics in this handbook, it Age; 45,000 to 10,000 b.c.e.), our species showed
has been affected by widespread practices in how we unusual levels of cooperation and social organiza-
(the broad culture and/or the scientific community) tion, and that the development of religion (ances-
describe people. We take the long view and focus tor worship, shamanism, and belief in animal and
broadly on early history, rather than exclusively on natural spirits) supported this by providing “perma-
the most recent developments. We sketch how the nent social scrutiny.” Inherent in this were theories
research community came to believe in the things (stories) about what these spirits were like, and how
we study as “impression formation,” and provide a they could be pleased, appeased, or offended. Such
few interesting stories and ideas along the way. theories must have existed about people as well.
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