Relative influence of positive and negative information in impression formation and persistence.

Abstract

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS WERE GIVEN INCONSISTENT POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE BLOCKS OF WRITTEN NARRATIVE INFORMATION FROM WHICH TO RATE THE CHARACTER OF A STRANGER. 1/2 RECEIVED THE INFORMATION IN POSITIVE-NEGATIVE ORDER AND 1/2 IN NEGATIVE-POSITIVE. RATINGS WERE MADE AFTER EACH BLOCK OF INFORMATION AND AGAIN 7-9 DAYS LATER. INITIAL RATINGS BASED ON SINGLE UNIVALENT PARAGRAPHS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY ALTERED IN BOTH GROUPS BY SUBSEQUENT INCOMPATIBLE INFORMATION, BUT THE CHANGE WAS NOT EQUALLY PERMANENT FOR BOTH ORDES OF PRESENTATION. WHEREAS ORIGINALLY POSITIVE IMPRESSIONS WERE LASTINGLY CHANGED BY NEGATIVE INFORMATION, ORIGINALLY NEGATIVE IMPRESSIONS WHICH HAD BEEN REVISED UPWARD BECAME SIGNIFICANTLY MORE NEGATIVE AGAIN WITHIN 9 DAYS. REPLICATION WITH DIFFERENT INFORMATION ABOUT THE STRANGER (INVERSION OF ORIGINAL CONTENT) YIELDED THE SAME RESULTS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)