BEHAVIORAL EXPERIENCE AND TRAIT JUDGMENTS ABOUT THE SELF

How do people determine whether a trait is self-descriptive? The autho rs recently proposed and tested a ''mixed'' model of the trait self-ju dgement process that asserts that two types of self-knowledge-abstract trait summaries and specific behavioral exemplars-are used to make tr ait judgments about the self, and that the relative importance of each is determined by the amount of behavioral experience one has with the trait being judged. The present article addresses a potential limitat ion in previous tests of this model. Findings offer strong support for a mixed-model interpretation of trait self-judgements.