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Contents 1 Intuition Model 1.1 Asch(1946) 1.2 Halo effect 2 Comments

Intuition Model

Concerned with global perception - how we form overall impressions - we try to perceive people as whole entities and not as a collection of separate traits / characteristics.

Asch(1946)

Asch presented two groups of subjects each with a (stimulus) list of adjectives, only difference was one contained warm and the other contained cold.

Response lists of groups displayed significant differences: warm group saw the character as generous, sociable, popular; cold group saw character as  opposite.

Conclusion: warm-cold represented central dimension (evaluative, implying like/ dislike etc.) others represented peripheral dimensions.

Kelly expanded on this.

Halo effect

If a person has one salient (available)good trait, his other characteristics are likely to be judged by others as better than they really are. ( e.g. handsome men and women tend to be rated higher on intelligence, athletic prowess, sense of humour etc.); if we are told that a particular favourable characteristic is held by a person then we tend to attribute them with other favourable characteristics (converse is also true

This illustrates two principles of perception:

• like to see people as consistent and one-dimensional
• certain groups of traits seem to belong together

Subjects to learn list of words (one group included adventurous, self-confident, independent, persistent the other group included reckless, conceited, stubborn, aloof) - all read a short story about a man - told it had nothing to do with previously presented words - BUT those who had learned the favourable adjectives thought much better of the man.(Higgins, Roles and Jones - Category accessibility and impression formation, 1977)

In one study same exam scripts rewritten twice - once in good handwriting, once in bad handwriting - examiners told to disregard the handwriting - on average scripts in god handwriting received higher marks.(Nisbett and Wilson 1977)

Comments