Our initial feelings toward another person are critical determinants of our subsequent behavior toward that person. While research has demonstrated that initial emotional responses significantly effect evaluations of object stimuli, a series of experimental studies is proposed to extend this work to see what implications it has for behaviors that occur between individuals. It is critical that we examine affective processes within interaction since a substantial body of research suggests there is little consensus between evaluations made by participants of social interaction and observers of social interaction when rating the same person or interaction. The goal of the proposed research is to derive a model that demonstrates how nonconscious and conscious affective responses affect interactants' processing strategies, interaction patterns and person perception judgments. Study l examines the influence of both conscious and nonconscious initial affective responses toward a target person on subsequent evaluations of the target. Participants evaluate a target after interacting with the target or observing the interaction. It is hypothesized that when individuals are aware of an affective response, interactants will be more susceptible to its influence than will observers. When they are unaware of the source of their feelings, the motivational pressures associated with participation should perceptually highlight positive in comparison to negative information. Study 2 examines two factors (cognitive load and self-presentation concerns) that are hypothesized to account for the strong positivity bias in social interacts' evaluations of their conversational partners. Study 2 explores which of these factors leads to a heavier reliance on nonconscious cues and how the goals of the subject interact with the valence of the initial affective cue. Study 3 examines interactions in which initial feelings are contradicted by subsequent affective cues. It is hypothesized that initial nonconscious affective responses will combine in an additive fashion with subsequent affective information, regardless of the valence of the initial response or subsequent information. When individuals are aware of their initial feelings, these feelings will be more resistant to being displaced when positive rather than negative. Whereas Studies 1-3 focus on evaluations, Studies 4 and 5 use a Social Relations Model to illustrate how awareness of initial feelings effects the strategies an individual deploys to manage an interaction. The accumulated evidence from this series of studies will allows a more accurate model of how initial feelings shape behaviors.
| Monahan, J L; Murphy, S T; Zajonc, R B (2000) Subliminal mere exposure: specific, general, and diffuse effects. Psychol Sci 11:462-6 |
