Information-Seeking Strategies in Person Perception

1968 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Nidorf

Information sought by Ss desiring to form an impression of a stimulus person was explored in relation to (1) the sex of the S, (2) the sex of the stimulus person, and (3) the valence of the initial input information. The results were interpreted in terms of various information-seeking strategies used by Ss in matching the additional sought information to their initial impressions. A fourth variable, S's cognitive complexity, was found to be related to the amount of information sought by females: the more cognitively complex females sought the most information in forming their impressions of a stimulus person.

1973 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 479-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Mc Call ◽  
Gordon Rae

203 female Ss read a short case-study and a group of related questions. They were then required to complete a 12 adjective-pair semantic differential indicating their dispositional judgments of the stimulus person in the narrative. Two independent variables were manipulated, the sex of the stimulus person and the group of questions asked. One group of questions was intended to induce a situation-matching set and the other a causal-genetic set. Ss in the situation-matching group rated the male stimulus person more hard ( p < .05), more bold ( p < .01), and less emotional ( p < .05) than Ss in the causal-genetic group. In the case of the female stimulus person Ss in the situation-matching group perceived her as more bold ( p < .05). Differences due to sex alone were found only for the situation-matching groups who perceived the female stimulus person as less hard ( p < .05) and less rugged ( p < .01) than the male.


1989 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 735-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Ferguson ◽  
Clive Fletcher

The study examined some of the cognitive components in accuracy of social perception during the selection interview. 75 undergraduates completed several cognitive measures and were then required to interview a candidate for the job of accountant and make ratings of the candidate on several dimensions. Analysis showed pervasive sex differences in accuracy, and many effects specific either to same sex or to opposite sex dyads. Accuracy of female interviewers tended to be associated with greater cognitive complexity and integration of the interviewers. Accuracy of male interviewers was more dependent on the sex of the candidate; when interviewing a male candidate, accuracy was negatively associated with cognitive integration and when interviewing a female candidate, accuracy was negatively associated with the logical memory and visual recall subscales of the Wechsler Memory Scale.


1973 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 863-866 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hartnett ◽  
Donna Elder

The present study investigated how individuals are perceived as a function of their association with others. An unattractive male was perceived in a more favorable light when he was paired with an attractive female than with an unattractive female. An attractive female was liked more when she was associated with an unattractive male than when she was paired with an attractive male. Results are interpreted in terms of the sex of the stimulus person and the sex of the perceiver.


1987 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avi Assor

Three stages in the development of the theoretical framework which has guided research on motives and defensive person perception are described, beginning with a trait approach and ending in a process oriented interactive model. Then, in order to accommodate findings showing that threatening stimuli are often processed in a realistic rather than a defensive way, a revised interactive model is proposed as a fourth stage of conceptualization. According to the revised model, perceiver's motives lead to defensive person perceptions only if (a) the interaction of perceiver's motives with the attributes of the stimulus person and the situation produces emotional arousal in the perceiver; and (b) the perceiver assumes that defensive processing of information related to the stimulus person has higher hedonic value than realistic processing. The following factors are proposed as determinants of the hedonic value and the relative intensity of realistic versus defensive processing: (a) the degree to which the stimulus is objectively linked with the perceiver's personal future outcomes; (b) the clarity of this hedonic link; (c) perceiver's ability to perceive negative hedonic links; (d) hope that realistic processing will help to obtain desired future outcomes; (e) potency of present negative feelings produced by the stimulus; and (f) personality factors affecting the intensity of emotional arousal or the capacity to tolerate and control emotional arousal. According to the revised model, defensive effects of motives on person perception are likely to occur primarily outside the laboratory, in the context of lasting and meaningful interpersonal relations.


1987 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 887-898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie L. Davis

In a 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 (subject's sex, stimulus-person's sex, stimulus-person's sex-role as inferred from sex-related clothing, and stimulus-person's sex-linked occupation) complete factorial between-subjects experiment, 120 female and 120 male subjects viewed a slide of either a male or female stimulus-person wearing either masculine or feminine clothing. Stimulus persons were also said to be employed in either a masculine, feminine, or sex-neutral occupation. Subjects then recorded their first impressions of the stimulus-person on a person-perception questionnaire. Analysis indicated that persons wearing masculine clothing were perceived as more successful in their occupations than persons wearing feminine clothing for both the masculine and feminine (business) occupations. No differences were found for persons in the sex-neutral occupation. Additional analyses are discussed and conclusions drawn regarding the effect of clothing in sex-role stereotyping in first-impression situations.


Author(s):  
Uma-Sankar Kalyan-Seshu ◽  
Bert Bras

Abstract A growing concern about the environment, and especially about waste and landfill, has motivated research into environmentally conscious design and manufacturing approaches. This has placed new burdens on designers. In order to aid designers in their new tasks, one of our objectives is to minimize the gathering of information and maximize the utility of existing design information. In the research discussed in this paper, the specific objective is to enable the quantification and enhancement of product remanufacturability. Guidelines for integrating some of the commercially available CAD packages (like I-DEAS, Pro/ENGINEER, CATIA) to remanufacturing assessments, and ways to use the input information to these assessments for making other assessments (like assemblability) are developed. A number of case studies are given to illustrate the approach. Our long term goal is to identify the minimum amount of information needed to do effective design for the life-cycle.


Background: Consumer eHealth tools play an increasingly important role in engaging patients as participants in managing their health and seeking health information. However, there is a documented gap between the skill and knowledge demands of eHealth systems and user competencies to benefit from these tools. Objective: This research aims to reveal the knowledge- and skill-related barriers to effective use of eHealth tools. Methods: We used a micro-analytic framework for characterizing the different cognitive dimensions of eHealth literacy to classify task demands and barriers that 20 participants experienced while performing online information-seeking and decision-making tasks. Results: Participants ranged widely in their task performance across all 6 tasks as measured by task scores and types of barriers encountered. The highest performing participant experienced only 14 barriers whereas the lowest scoring one experienced 153. A more detailed analysis of two tasks revealed that the highest number of incorrect answers and experienced barriers were caused by tasks requiring: (a) Media literacy and Science literacy at high cognitive complexity levels and (b) a combination of Numeracy and Information literacy at different cognitive complexity levels. Conclusions: Applying this type of analysis enabled us to characterize task demands by literacy type and by cognitive complexity. Mapping barriers to literacy types provided insight into the interaction between users and eHealth tasks. Although the gap between eHealth tools, users’ skills, and knowledge can be difficult to bridge, an understanding of the cognitive complexity and literacy demands can serve to reduce the gap between designer and consumer.


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