FIRST-IMPRESSIONS VERSUS GOOD IMPRESSIONS - THE EFFECT OF SELF-REGULATION ON INTERVIEW EVALUATIONS

Self-regulation may interfere with the ability to fully use situationa l information to form impressions of others. The demands posed by self -regulation were studied in a job interview situation. In the context of a simulated job interview, participants in the high cognitive load condition (interviewers) were less able to correct their initial chara cterizations of a job applicant with situational information than part icipants in the low cognitive load condition (observers). Results are discussed in terms of the person-perception literature and how cogniti ve load effects could be minimized to increase the comprehensiveness o f interviewer assessments.