INFORMATION SEARCH AND IMPRESSION-FORMATION

A study was conducted to test the effects of sex of subject, sex of target person, attributes of target person, and search stage on the amount of information accessed during the impression formation process. Equal numbers of male and female subjects (Total=100) accessed appearance, behavior, and trait information about either male or female targets. Subjects were given the task of choosing which of four targets impressed them the most favorably. A quadruple interaction was hypothesized. Male subjects were expected to search a greater amount of appearance information about female targets in the first search stage than subjects in all other experimental conditions. Although this hypothesis was not confirmed, it was determined that more appearance information was sought by opposite sex subject-target pairs, whereas more trait information was sought by same sex subject-target pairs (p<.001). Moreover, males accessed more appearance information about female targets than did any other subject-target combination (p<.01). An overall preference for searching trait information rather than appearance or behavior information was also found (p<.0001). Results are discussed in light of current models of information search, recall of person memories and impression formation.