The independence of evaluative and item information: Impression and recall order effects in behavior-based impression formation

Impression and recall order effects were examined in the context of N. H. Anderson and S. Hubert's (1963) information integration model of impression formation. 80 undergraduates read 4 items of information about each stimulus person and participated in 1 of 5 between-Ss conditions: (a) rated the stimulus person after the presentation of each item and, after the 4th rating, recalled the 4 items; (b) did the same, except that a trait-rating filler task was interpolated between each rating and the next presentation; (c) did the same, except that the filler task was math problems; (d) made only 1 rating, after the presentation of the 4th item, did no filler task, and did recall the 4 items; (e) did the same, without recall. In the 1st 3 conditions, each impression rating was affected most by the most recently presented item, whereas, in the 2 final conditions, there was a slight primacy effect. Task conditions had little effect on recall; serial position curves for all conditions were U-shaped, exhibiting both primacy and recency, as commonly found in free recall research. Low and nonsignificant correlations between impression weights and recall, as well as the markedly different serial position curves, are discussed as evidence for distinct processes of recall and impression formation. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).