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
67-83
Green, Jeffrey D.
f81bd652-7964-494f-8b8c-e0b9ed956039
Sedikides, Constantine
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
March 2001
Green, Jeffrey D.
f81bd652-7964-494f-8b8c-e0b9ed956039
Sedikides, Constantine
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
Green, Jeffrey D. and Sedikides, Constantine
(2001)
When do self-schemas shape social perception?: The role of descriptive ambiguity.
Motivation and Emotion, 25 (1), .
(doi:10.1023/A:1010611922816).
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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Green & Sedikides, 2001
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Published date: March 2001
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Local EPrints ID: 40282
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/40282
ISSN: 0146-7239
PURE UUID: 08be7c60-15ea-40a7-b18a-484453bd5023
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2006
Last modified: 22 Apr 2026 16:30
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Jeffrey D. Green
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