State Inferences in Impression Formation from Behavior

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Juliane Degner
• Subject Area: Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 457858318

Hitherto, social psychological research on impression formation from behavior has focused mainly on the spontaneity and automaticity of trait inferences. Most studies in this domain have examined person perception as the attribution of traits in terms of stable personality characteristics to an acting person. Our own research, however, has provided evidence that people process actors' temporary states as well as stable traits when they form spontaneous person impressions from behavior. The current research project examines basic processes, process characteristics, and functional consequences of such state inferences in comparison to trait inferences. We plan three inter-related work packages that employ established indirect experimental paradigms and manipulations from impression formation research. One series of experiments investigates to what extent state inferences rely on inferential and associative formation processes. A second series of experiments examines if and to what extent these processes show characteristics of automatic information processes (i.e., non-intentional, efficient, un-controllable). A third series of experiments investigates the functional consequences on effects of impression formation. Here we focus on the stability of impressions and their impact on downstream information processing and formation of behavioral expectations. The overarching and long-term goal of the proposed research is to systematically provide empirical data as stepping stones on the path towards an improved theoretical model of spontaneous impression formation from behavior that we aim to develop.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants