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The Effects of Subject‐Generated and Normative Constructs Upon the Formation of Impressions
Author(s) -
DELIA JESSE G.,
GONYEA ANDREW H.,
CROCKETT WALTER H.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
british journal of social and clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0007-1293
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1971.tb00753.x
Subject(s) - impression formation , normative , psychology , corollary , social psychology , subject (documents) , developmental psychology , social perception , epistemology , perception , philosophy , mathematics , neuroscience , library science , computer science , pure mathematics
This study examined the validity of G. Kelly's Individuality Corollary by assessing the role of individual personal constructs in the formation of impressions. All subjects formed impressions from six traits, three positive and three negative, attributed to an unknown person. All of the traits presented to one group were normatively determined. Three other groups received six traits partly or entirely generated by the subjects themselves in descriptions of other persons. These groups were characterized as own‐positive, own‐negative and all own. As hypothesized, subjects produced more differentiated impressions in the conditions in which they received as stimuli the self‐generated traits. Evaluations of the unknown other moved in the direction of the evaluative component of the self‐generated traits. In addition, the most highly organized impressions were produced in the normative and all‐own conditions. These results were interpreted as supporting both the Individuality Corollary and a conflict model of impression organization.