EFFECTS OF DISTRACTION ON INTERPERSONAL EXPECTANCY EFFECTS - A SOCIAL-INTERACTION TEST OF THE COGNITIVE BUSYNESS HYPOTHESIS

Previous research has indicated that people who are distracted, or ''c ognitively busy,'' are more likely to rely on stereotypes and engage i n biased information processing. The purpose of the present study was to extend this literature to an interpersonal context by testing wheth er cognitively busy perceivers are more likely to elicit a self-fulfil ling prophecy from a target about whom they hold either a positive or negative expectancy. Results supported this hypothesis, with targets o f cognitively busy perceivers responding more negatively when the perc eiver held a negative expectancy about them. Targets of non-busy perce ivers, on the other hand, tended to compensate for the negative expect ancy. Implications for recent social psychological models of social pe rception are discussed.