The role of contextual constraints and chronic expectancies on behavior categorizations and dispositional inferences

The authors examined the roles of chronic expectancies and other contextual information in the dispositional inference process within the domain of ab ility judgments. Prior to viewing a videotaped performance under either cog nitive load or no load participants in Studies 1 and 2 were given additiona l information designed to constrain their categorizations of the performanc e. In Study 2 chronic future-event expectancies also were assessed. Analyse s revealed that when under cognitive load, participants' ability inferences were assimilated to the constraint information (Studies 1 and 2) and to ch ronic expectancies (Study 2). Furthermore, Study 2 analyses revealed that t hese effects were medi ated by participants' behavior categorizations. Evid ence suggestive of a proceduralized form of correction for task difficulty (Studies 1 and 2) and an effortful, awareness-based correction for the cons traint information and for chronic expectancies also was found. Results are examined in light of recent models of the dispositional inference process.