SPONTANEOUS TRAIT INFERENCE - INFLUENCE O F TRAIT TYPE AND GOAL PROCESS

One of the most controversial research issues currently under discussi on in the area of social inference of traits based on behavioral infor mation is whether these inferences are formulated spontaneously or if they are consciously controlled by perceivers. This article opposes th is dichotomy considering the debate over spontaneity vs. control of th e process is a matter of degree involving the type of trait and the pe rceivers goal in the process. To this end we have carried out an exper iment involving 108 subjects,distributed in various groups according t o the aim of the process (impression formation, memorization of behavi or or numbers), trait type (facility vs. difficulty to be associated w ith a type of behavior), and the clue that was provided in the memory test (related to the actor, to the behavior or without clue). The depe ndent variable was the number of remembered behaviors. The results sho wed that there is a spontaneous inference in conditions of impression formation and memorization of sentences but not in the memorization of numbers. Furthermore, the spontaneous inference only occurred when th e traits were easy to associate with a type of behavior. Therefore it leads us to conclude that the two factors considered have influence on spontaneity in the process of trait inference.