The proposed research is concerned with with basic processes that underlie the use of social information in forming impressions and making inferences. It continues an exploration of three questions currently under investigation: (1) the factors that determine how information about people and events is encoded into memory and the effects of this encoding on subsequent judgments; (2) the cognitive organization of information about people and events, and (3) the role of processing objectives in the storage and retrieval of social information. In addition, we propose to investigate (4) the role of subjective (e.g., affective or emotional) reactions in social information processing and the cognitive representation of social experience, (5) the organization of beliefs acquired in different knowledge domains, and the factors that determine which previously formed beliefs are retrieved and used as bases for others, and (6) the cognitive representation of ongoing social interaction sequences involving oneself as either participant or observer. A multiplicity of procedures will be used, which range from the use of recall, recognition and reaction time data to assess the manner in which information is organized in memory and the ease of retrieving it for use in making judgments, to a content analysis of ongoing social interactions and the relation of this content to participants' perceptions of one another and interpretation of the interaction. Although this research is multifaceted, it all bears either directly or indirectly on implications of the general theoretical formulation we have developed. On the other hand, the research proposed is germane to several fundamental questions related to encoding, organizational and retrieval operations that are strongly emphasized in recent attempts to develop process models of social perception.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH038585-02
Application #
3376731
Study Section
Mental Health Behavioral Sciences Research Review Committee (BSR)
Project Start
1984-01-15
Project End
1985-12-31
Budget Start
1985-01-01
Budget End
1985-12-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
1985
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Department
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
041544081
City
Champaign
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
61820
Wyer Jr, R S; Budesheim, T L; Lambert, A J et al. (1994) Person memory and judgment: pragmatic influences on impressions formed in a social context. J Pers Soc Psychol 66:254-67
Gruenfeld, D H; Wyer Jr, R S (1992) Semantics and pragmatics of social influence: how affirmations and denials affect beliefs in referent propositions. J Pers Soc Psychol 62:38-49
Wyer Jr, R S; Collins 2nd, J E (1992) A theory of humor elicitation. Psychol Rev 99:663-88
Lambert, A J; Wedell, D H (1991) The self and social judgment: effects of affective reaction and ""own position"" on judgments of unambiguous and ambiguous information about others. J Pers Soc Psychol 61:884-97
Wyer Jr, R S; Budesheim, T L; Shavitt, S et al. (1991) Image, issues, and ideology: the processing of information about political candidates. J Pers Soc Psychol 61:533-45
Lambert, A J; Wyer Jr, R S (1990) Stereotypes and social judgment: the effects of typicality and group heterogeneity. J Pers Soc Psychol 59:676-91
Wyer Jr, R S; Budesheim, T L; Lambert, A J (1990) Cognitive representation of conversations about persons. J Pers Soc Psychol 58:218-38
Ottati, V C; Riggle, E J; Wyer Jr, R S et al. (1989) Cognitive and affective bases of opinion survey responses. J Pers Soc Psychol 57:404-15
Holtgraves, T; Srull, T K; Socall, D (1989) Conversation memory: the effects of speaker status on memory for the assertiveness of conversation remarks. J Pers Soc Psychol 56:149-60
Srull, T K; Wyer Jr, R S (1989) Person memory and judgment. Psychol Rev 96:58-83

Showing the most recent 10 out of 22 publications