ONLINE EVIDENCE FOR SPONTANEOUS TRAIT INFERENCES AT ENCODING

Three experiments obtained evidence that spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) occur on-line, at encoding. In each, participants read many sen tences on a computer screen. After each paragraph, they indicated whet her it included a test probe word. Paragraphs that imply but do not co ntain traits should increase errors or reaction times (RTs) to trait p robes. In Experiment 1, trait-implying paragraphs produced more errors than control paragraphs, supporting the hypothesis. In Experiments 2 and 3, with feedback on each trial, longer RTs supported the hypothesi s. STIs had the same effects as McKoon and Ratcliff's ''predicting inf erences.'' Unexpectedly, participants gained control over STIs and pre dicting inferences, so that RT differences (and error differences in E xperiment 1) declined over trials. Analyses of reading times in Experi ment 3 ruled out several alternative explanations. Results demonstrate that social inferences can occur spontaneously at encoding and sugges t that immediate feedback may make control possible.