CONTEXT EFFECTS IN PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS - INFLUENCE OF TARGET VALUE, CONTEXT POLARITY, AND INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES

Undergraduate students (N = 207) completed 3 individual difference mea sures and then evaluated 3 instructors based on scripts depicting inte ractions between the instructors and students. The first 2 scripts est ablished a context and the third script served as the target stimulus. Comparison ratings were provided by a random context control conditio n. Contrast effects occurred in ratings of the average target stimulus , and the negative context had a larger impact than did the positive c ontext. Both of these context effects were moderated by the rater's be lief in the variability of human nature, but not by the rater's cognit ive ability or field independence. Contrast effects also occurred in r atings of the positive target stimulus but not in ratings of the negat ive target stimulus, and in neither case was the context effect modera ted by any of the individual difference variables.