INFORMATION SEARCH AND IMPRESSION-FORMATION

A study was conducted to test the effects of sex of subject, sex of ta rget person, attributes of target person, and search stage on the amou nt of information accessed during the impression formation process. Eq ual numbers of male and female subjects (Total=100) accessed appearanc e, behavior, and trait information about either male or female targets . Subjects were given the task of choosing which of four targets impre ssed them the most favorably. A quadruple interaction was hypothesized . Male subjects were expected to search a greater amount of appearance information about female targets in the first search stage than subje cts in all other experimental conditions. Although this hypothesis was not confirmed, it was determined that more appearance information was sought by opposite sex subject-target pairs, whereas more trait infor mation was sought by same sex subject-target pairs (p<.001). Moreover, males accessed more appearance information about female targets than did any other subject-target combination (p<.01). An overall preferenc e for searching trait information rather than appearance or behavior i nformation was also found (p<.0001). Results are discussed in light of current models of information search, recall of person memories and i mpression formation.