STEREOTYPES AND MENTAL LIFE - THE CASE OF THE MOTIVATED BUT THWARTED TACTICIAN

Two experiments investigated the effects of information-processing goa ls and attentional capacity on subjects' impressions of a target. In S tudy 1, extending previous research in this area, both information-pro cessing goals and a resource depleting task were manipulated simultane ously. It was predicted that, in contrast with outcome-independent sub jects, subjects who were made outcome-dependent upon a woman would mak e individuated evaluations of her. This effect, however, was anticipat ed to be contingent upon the availability of attentional resources. Un der conditions of cognitive busyness, it was predicted that both outco me-independent and -dependent subjects would view the woman in a relat ively stereotyped (i.e., less individuating) manner. Our results suppo rted this prediction. Resource depletion appeared to diminish subjects ' ability to individuate the woman, even when they were motivated to v iew her in such a manner. Study 2 utilized a probe reaction task to in vestigate the differential demands processing goals impose upon percei vers' attentional capacity. In line with our predictions, outcome-depe ndent subjects used more cognitive resources when learning about a wom an than comparable outcome-independent subjects. Taken together, these results demonstrate the dynamic interaction between cognitive and mot ivational factors in the determination of perceivers' impressions of o thers. We consider these findings in the wider context of models of st ereotyping and social inference. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.