The set-size effect in personality impression formation is not an artifact

Abstract

The set-size effect in impression formation has been a highly reliable phenomenon when set size was varied as a within-S factor, but this effect has often been absent in between'S designs. Researchers have questioned the use of one or the other of these design techniq~es. and ha~e consequently labe~ed as artifactual either the presence or absence of set-size effects. ThIS IS a crucial matter for theories of impression formation. Studies are cited which have obtained the set-size eff~ct in a paired-co~paris,?ns paradigm where previous design criticisms would not seem to apply, and m between-S designs using specific procedural techniques. It is concluded that the set-size effect is not an artifact.

Honesty And Intelligence Judgments Of Individuals And Groups: The Effects Of Entity-related Behavior Diagnosticity And Implicit Theories

“…From an affect-based judgment perspective this result is particularly surprising given that in Experiment 1 each of the unintelligent behaviors was perceived to be evaluatively negative. The usual result is for judgments to become more extreme as behaviors are added to a consistent set (see Levin & Kaplan, 1974). However, repeated encounters with a target's unintelligent behaviors may have brought to mind an individual who has a mental impairment, such as Down's syndrome, which might alter reactions to the behavior set.…”

Averaging and summation: Positivity and choice as a function of the number and affective intensity of life events

“…differently. These effects were explored within the impression formation literature (e.g., Anderson, 1974Anderson, , 1981Levin & Kaplan, 1974). For example, a set-size effect exists when a target person described as having four positive traits, each with a scale value of 4, is not given the same evaluation as when the same target is described as having only one of these traits (c.f.…”

Sensitivity to the Average and Summative Impact of Multiple Events: When “More is More” and When “More is Less”

“…A set-size effect refers to a situation in which numerically different sets of identically valenced stimuli are perceived differently (Anderson, 1974, 1981; Levin & Kaplan, 1974). These effects were explored within the impression formation literature (Levin & Kaplan, 1974).…”

“…A set-size effect refers to a situation in which numerically different sets of identically valenced stimuli are perceived differently (Anderson, 1974, 1981; Levin & Kaplan, 1974). These effects were explored within the impression formation literature (Levin & Kaplan, 1974). The set-size interpretation was important to Anderson’s (1974, 1981, 2013) premise that within a single domain (e.g., impression formation and audiences), only one integration rule operated: averaging, summation, or multiplication.…”