ANTICIPATED INTERACTION, INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES IN ATTENTIONAL RESOURCES, AND ELABORATION OF BEHAVIOR

The hypothesis was that greater an individual's attentional resources, the more extensively he or she will elaborate on another's behavior i n terms of underlying traits, as evidenced by greater clustering by tr ait category and higher frequency in recall. In Studies 1 and 2 partic ipants were provided with behavioral information concerning a person t hey expected to meet, after which incidental recall was assessed. Proc essing speed and working memory were later assessed as indicators of a ttentional resources. As expected, participants with greater resources evidenced greater clustering (Studies 1 & 2) and higher frequency (St udy 2) in recall than those with less resources. Findings of Study 2 w ere replicated in Study 3 in which attentional resources were manipula ted.