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When do self-schemas shape social perception?: The role of descriptive ambiguity

When do self-schemas shape social perception?: The role of descriptive ambiguity
When do self-schemas shape social perception?: The role of descriptive ambiguity
An experiment tested the hypothesis that self-schemas shape social perception when the target description is ambiguous. On the basis of a pretest, we derived a target description that was ambiguous on independence–dependence (i.e., the target, Chris, was rated as equally likely to be independent or dependent). Participants classified as independence-schematics, dependence-schematics, or aschematics read the description, predicted Chris' behavior, and indicated their impression of Chris. Consistent with the hypothesis, self-schemas had an assimilative effect on social perception: Relative to aschematics, independence-schematics rated Chris as more independent and more likely to behave independently, whereas dependence-schematics rated Chris as less independent and less likely to behave independently. By assimilating a substantial portion of the social world (the portion that is ambiguous), self-schemas serve a motivational function: They foster the stability, validation, and perpetuation of the self-system
0146-7239
67-83
Green, J. D.
f81bd652-7964-494f-8b8c-e0b9ed956039
Sedikides, C.
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
Green, J. D.
f81bd652-7964-494f-8b8c-e0b9ed956039
Sedikides, C.
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2

Green, J. D. and Sedikides, C. (2001) When do self-schemas shape social perception?: The role of descriptive ambiguity. Motivation and Emotion, 25 (1), 67-83.

Record type: Article

Abstract

An experiment tested the hypothesis that self-schemas shape social perception when the target description is ambiguous. On the basis of a pretest, we derived a target description that was ambiguous on independence–dependence (i.e., the target, Chris, was rated as equally likely to be independent or dependent). Participants classified as independence-schematics, dependence-schematics, or aschematics read the description, predicted Chris' behavior, and indicated their impression of Chris. Consistent with the hypothesis, self-schemas had an assimilative effect on social perception: Relative to aschematics, independence-schematics rated Chris as more independent and more likely to behave independently, whereas dependence-schematics rated Chris as less independent and less likely to behave independently. By assimilating a substantial portion of the social world (the portion that is ambiguous), self-schemas serve a motivational function: They foster the stability, validation, and perpetuation of the self-system

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Published date: 2001

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 40282
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/40282
ISSN: 0146-7239
PURE UUID: 08be7c60-15ea-40a7-b18a-484453bd5023
ORCID for C. Sedikides: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4036-889X

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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2006
Last modified: 08 Jan 2022 02:50

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Contributors

Author: J. D. Green
Author: C. Sedikides ORCID iD

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