Reading about persons: The effects of conjunctions on the mental representation of person descriptions

in Swiss Journal of Psychology = Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Psychologie = Revue suisse de psychologie (2008), 67

Three experiments investigated the processing of person descriptions that consisted of a number of statements about the characteristics of a person. In one condition, each statement referred to a single ... [more ▼]

Three experiments investigated the processing of person descriptions that consisted of a number of statements about the characteristics of a person. In one condition, each statement referred to a single person attribute and in the other condition, causal and additive conjunctions to verbally link the statements were introduced. Evidence was found that the introduction of verbal links enhanced participants’ memory about the characteristics of the described person. On-line measures of processing showed that the comprehension of person information was strongly facilitated by the introduction of verbal links. Furthermore, the results were due to the introduction of causal connections between person attributes. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for models of person memory and representation. [less ▲]

Wie bilden wir uns einen Eindruck aus Personbeschreibungen?

in Magazin Forschung (2006), 2

Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Eindrucksbildung aus Personbeschreibungen. Im beruflichen Alltag werden viele Beurteilungen, beispielsweise Personalentscheidungen oder Gerichtsurteile, auf der ... [more ▼]

Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Eindrucksbildung aus Personbeschreibungen. Im beruflichen Alltag werden viele Beurteilungen, beispielsweise Personalentscheidungen oder Gerichtsurteile, auf der Basis von Personbeschreibungen gefällt. Aber auch im privaten Kontext begegnen wir ständig Personbeschreibungen, auf deren Grundlage wir uns einen Eindruck über andere Personen bilden. Es wird aufgezeigt, wie beim Lesen/Hören einer Personbeschreibung ein Eindruck von der beschriebenen Person entsteht und welche Prinzipien dem Gedächtnis für die Aussagen einer Personbeschreibung sowie den kausalen Erklärungen und Beurteilungen aus einer Personbeschreibung zugrunde liegen. Darüber hinaus wird aufgezeigt, welche gravierenden Unterschiede zwischen der sozialen Informationsverarbeitung und der Verarbeitung nicht–sozialer Information, vor allem im Hinblick auf die mentale Repräsentation der Information, bestehen. [less ▲]

Abschlussbericht an die DFG zum DFG-Projekt "Die Konstruktion mentaler Modelle von Personen als Sprachverstehen"

Report (2005)

Eye-Tracking Messungen zur Analyse der Verarbeitung personbeschreibender Texte

Scientific Conference (2004, September)

Verarbeitung von personbeschreibender Information als Textverstehen

in Psychologische Rundschau (2004), 55(1), 11-18

In this paper, relations between text comprehension and social cognition are discussed. It is argued that theories and research methods from the domain of text comprehension are well suited to highlight ... [more ▼]

In this paper, relations between text comprehension and social cognition are discussed. It is argued that theories and research methods from the domain of text comprehension are well suited to highlight the processing of person information. In research on person memory and impression formation stimulus materials are used which typically consist of a listwise presentation of traits and/or behavior describing statements. In contrast, research on text comprehension yields evidence that a crucial component of successful comprehension is provided by relations between the statements. These induce a coherent and hierarchically organized structure rather than an unorganized list. It is argued that analyzing impression formation and social judgment from text descriptions of persons provides a superior approach to social cognition by representing the complexity of relations between person attributes and their cognitive representations more adequately. [less ▲]

Einfluss der Textkohärenz auf das Behalten von Personbeschreibungen

Scientific Conference (2002, September)

Eindrucksbildung aus Personbeschreibungen: Der Einfluss der syntaktischen Kohärenz auf die soziale Kognition

in Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie (2002), 33

This paper concerns the comprehension of person descriptions. In two experiments we investigated the influence of syntactical coherence and ease of categorization of the information on person memory and ... [more ▼]

This paper concerns the comprehension of person descriptions. In two experiments we investigated the influence of syntactical coherence and ease of categorization of the information on person memory and judgments. Ss listened to person descriptions which contained phrases concerning single person attributes. These phrases were either highly connected by prepositions or totally unconnected. In addition, the texts differed in their degree of categorizability, one activating a social stereotype and the other containing individual attributes. In Experiment I the Ss had to reproduce the text and in Experiment II the task was to summarize the information. In Experiment I the reproduction rates increased significantly with the connectedness in the case of non-stereotypical information. In Experiment II, we found more complex inference patterns under the same condition. The results are discussed within the associative network approach to person memory. It is argued that this approach has to be further differentiated with regard to particular logical relations between person attributes. [less ▲]

Mentale Modelle beim Verstehen von Personbeschreibungen: Konsistenz der Information und Kohärenz des Textes.

Scientific Conference (2000, September)