Communication effects on memory and judgment

Alexander Todorov

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

The present research explored the mechanisms of judgmental and memory correction for communication influence. Participants described a target person to an addressee who either liked or disliked the target. Participants' descriptions were more positive when the addressee liked the target than when the addressee disliked the target. Mediation analyses showed that the effect of the addressee's attitude on judgment and memory was mediated by its effect on participants' descriptions. Participants' evaluative judgments of the target were influenced by the addressee's attitude only when the attitude was presented subtly. When the presentation of the attitude was blatant, participants used the attitude as a situational inducement of their communication behavior and corrected their judgments. Both participants' recall and false recognition of personality traits were evaluatively consistent with the addressee's attitude regardless of its presentation. However, mediational analyses suggested that participants in the blatant presentation condition engaged in an insufficient memory correction by discounting the evaluative implications of their descriptions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)531-546
Number of pages16
JournalEuropean Journal of Social Psychology
Volume32
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2002

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Social Psychology

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