When do self-schemas shape social perception?: The role of descriptive ambiguity

An experiment tested the hypothesis that self-schemas shape social percepti on when the target description is ambiguous. On the basis of a pretest, we derived a target description that was ambiguous on independence-dependence (i.e., the target, Chris, was rated as equally likely to be independent or dependent). Participants classified as independence-schematics, dependence- schematics, or aschematics read the description, predicted Chris' behavior and indicated their impression of Chris. Consistent with the hypothesis, se lf-schemas had an assimilative effect on social perception: Relative to asc hematics, independence-schematics rated Chris as more independent and more likely to behave independently, whereas dependence-schematics rated Chris a s less independent and less likely to behave independently. By assimilating a substantial portion of the social world (the portion that is ambiguous), self-schemas serve a motivational function: They foster the stability vali dation, and perpetuation of the self-system.