Rj. Pellegrini et al., EXPLORING THE EVERYDAY LIFE INCIDENCE OF DEJA-CONNU EXPERIENCES IN IMPRESSION-FORMATION, Perceptual and motor skills, 76(3), 1993, pp. 1243-1250
This study explored the everyday life incidence and nature of what we
refer to as deja connu experiences, i.e., situations where a newly enc
ountered individual reminds the perceiver of someone else. The data we
re obtained in a survey of (250 women and 250 men) college students. T
he universality of deja connu was indicated by significant differences
in selection of the Very Often (9.4%), Often (25.8%), Occasionally (5
0.6%), Rarely (14.2%), and Never (0%) categories on a forced-choice it
em concerning frequency of such experiences. An inverted-U hypothesis
is suggested as an heuristic model to describe the relationship betwee
n familiarity with any given individual and that person's ''remembered
other'' referent value for the perceiver.