IMPACT OF CONTEXT ON SPONTANEOUS TRAIT AND SITUATIONAL ATTRIBUTIONS

The role of background information in the generation of spontaneous inferences regarding a target's behavior was examined. Ss received background information designed to facilitate dispositional inferences, information to facilitate situational inferences, or no background information. All Ss were instructed to memorize a series of digit lists. After each list, a short paragraph of background information (omitted in control condition) and a single sentence were presented, allegedly as a distractor task. Similar to Uleman, Newman, and Winter (1987), cognitive capacity for processing the paragraphs and sentences was manipulated by presenting either difficult or easy digit lists. Cued recall revealed that dispositional background information facilitated trait inferences but did not affect situational inferences. Similarly, situational information facilitated situational inferences about the actor's behavior but had no impact on trait inferences. Uncued recall and predicate-cued recall were unaffected by either type of background information. The ability of dispositional information to facilitate trait-cued recall was not influenced by Ss' cognitive capacity, whereas situational information boosted situational-cued recall only when Ss enjoyed ample capacity. The relevance of this evidence to the three-stage model of person perception proposed by Gilbert, Pelham, and Krull (1988) is discussed.