SOCIAL SCHEMAS - RESPONSE SETS OR PERCEPTUAL MEANINGS

Conducted 4 experiments, using male and female undergraduates, to test a meaning model on which social schemas operate the perceptual side of the task, as an alternative to the current response set model of social schemas. Previous free placement phenomena were confirmed, and the uniform schematic arrangement and meaning of profile figures were established. Reconstruction task data partially confirmed Kuethe's findings, but also showed constriction of both reconstruction aspects of the task, and revealed significant male-female differences. No schema related effects were found in a perception-only experiment, but Ss afterward reported having initially perceived profile-figure arrangements in schema related ways. It is suggested that uniformities of the social schema type may derive from factors on both the perceptual and response sides. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.