ON INTERGROUP AND INTRAGROUP DIFFERENCES IN SCHEMATIC AND ASCHEMATIC GROUPS RATINGS OF TRAIT RELATIONS

It was hypothesized that a subject's personality with respect to havin g a self-schema in a given personality domain will affect the subject' s assumptions about how traits that belong to the given personality do main are interrelated in other persons. Two hypotheses were posed: (1) schematic, as compared to aschematic groups, assume stronger relation s (likelihood of co-occurrence) between schema-consistent traits in ot her persons and (2) schematic persons assume stronger relations betwee n schema-consistent traits, as compared to schema-inconsistent traits and schema-neutral traits in other persons. 82 women made self-ratings on 3 feminine traits, 3 masculine traits, and 3 neutral traits, as we ll as trait-relation ratings between pairs consisting of feminine trai ts (F-F relation), masculine traits (M-M relation), and neutral traits (N-N relation). On the basis of the self-ratings subjects were classi fied into feminine schematic (n = 14) and aschematic groups (n = 13). The trait-relation ratings were analyzed through a 2 x 3 (group x type of trait-relation) analysis of variance. The analysis confirmed both hypotheses. Implications of these results for self-schema and implicit personality theory are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.