TYPICALITY OF INTERPERSONAL SITUATIONS - THE ROLE OF AFFECT IN DETERMINING CONTEXTUAL VARIATIONS IN TYPICALITY NORMS

This study deals with the relationship between affect and cognition. T his relationship is conceptualized in the terms of Bower's (Bower & Co hen, 1982) theory. Subjects (early adolescents aged 12 or 14, boy or g irl) were asked to imagine themselves as the actor in an interpersonal situation. The situation was either intimate or non-intimate, and the hypothetical partner was either a boy or a girl. The subject's task w as to produce a series of sentences expressing the behaviours consider ed representative of each situation. The results indicated (1) the exi stence of a typicality hierarchy (whose characteristics are examined h ere) and (2) variations in this hierarchy according to the affective t one of the situation (intimate or non-intimate). We explain how the cu ltural, interpersonal situation norms acquired by adolescents can acco unt for these variations. Thus, contrary to what some authors contend, variations in typicality are not random.