An investigation of three models of multitrait representations

Two experiments were conducted to test three models of person memory concer ning multitrait expectancies: the trait-specific, complete association, and dual-coding models. Participants in Experiment 1 were bd to expect a targe t person to display two traits, then they were presented with congruent and incongruent behaviors ostensibly performed by the target person, and final ly they were asked to recall the behaviors. In contradiction. to the comple te association model which predicts that participants form congruent-congru ent associations as often as congruent-incongruent associations, incongruen t items were better recalled than were congruent items. Furthermore, condit ional probability analyses contradicted the implications of the trait-speci fic and dual-coding models. Findings from Experiment 2 reinforced the lack of support for all three models.