Abstract
We investigated individuation – attribute-based impressions associated with each unique individual rather than their categorical membership – as a moderator of impressions formed when slower versus faster processors encounter conflicting social category conjunctions. Descriptions of incongruent (e.g., female bricklayer), but not congruent category conjunctions (e.g., female nurse) were moderated by individuation in the application of emergent attributes (novel attributes associated exclusively with the category conjunction and not the constituents). However, this was only the case for slow processors. These findings suggest that the means by which slower processors relative to faster processors form impressions for poorly correlated category conjunctions vary systematically. Individuated impressions lead to emergent attribute application for perceivers with slower processing ability. We discuss the implications of these findings.
References
1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
(1987). The instability of graded structure: Implications for the nature of concepts. In , Concepts and conceptual development: Ecological and intellectual factors in categorization (pp. 101–140). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
(1989). Intraconcept similarity and its implications interconcept similarity. In , Similarity and analogical reasoning (pp. 76–121). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
(2002). Who exhibits more stereotypical thinking? The effect of need and ability to achieve cognitive structure on stereotyping. European Journal of Personality, 16, 313–331.
(2010). Diversity in the person, diversity in the group: Challenges of identity complexity for social perception and social interaction. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 1–16.
(1981). Perceptions of the elderly – stereotypes as prototypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 656–670.
(2002). The emergence of novel attributes in concept modification. Creativity Research Journal, 14, 149–156.
(1990). A continuum of impression formation from category based to individuating process: Influences of information and motivation on attention an interpretation. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 23, 1–74.
(1991). Social cognition (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
(1987). Inheritance of attributes in natural concept conjunctions. Memory and Cognition, 15, 55–71.
(1988). Overextension of conjunctive concepts: Evidence for a unitary model of concept typicality and class inclusion. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 14, 12–32.
(1997). Emergent attributes in combined concepts. In , Creative thought: An investigation of conceptual structures and processes (pp. 83–110). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.
(1990). Creating complex social conjunction categories from simple categories. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 28, 242–247.
(2009). Social inappropriateness, executive control, and aging. Psychology and Aging, 24, 239–244.
(2001). Ageing-related influences on personal need for structure. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 25, 482–490.
(2005). The composition of category conjunctions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 647–657.
(2006). Implications of cognitive busyness for the perception of category conjunctions. Journal of Social Psychology, 146, 253–256.
(2009). The dynamics of category conjunctions. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 12, 673–686.
(2012). Resolving conflicting social categories: The role of age-related executive ability. British Journal of Psychology, 103(1), 28–43.
(in preparation ). Categorization to individuation: Applying effortful individuated thoughts to conflicting categories.1990). Combining social concepts: The role of causal reasoning. Cognitive Science, 14, 551–577.
(1994). Stereotypes as energy-saving devices: A peek inside the cognitive toolbox. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 37–47.
(1993). Personal need for structure: Individual differences in the desire for simple structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 113–131.
(1979). Adult age and the speed-accuracy trade-off. Ergonomics, 22, 811–821.
(2000). Aging and measures of processing speed. Biological Psychology, 54, 35–54.
(2008). Emergent attributes in person perception: A comparative test of response time predictions. Social Psychology, 39, 83–89.
(1999). Cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships among age, cognition, and processing speed. Psychology and Aging, 14, 18–33.
(1992). Categorization of individuals on the basis of multiple social features. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 207–218.
(2001). The Personal Need for Structure (PNS) and Personal Fear of Invalidity (PFI) scales: Historical perspectives, present applications and future directions. In , Cognitive social psychology: The Princeton symposium on the legacy and future of social cognition (pp. 19–39). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2005). Ageing and switching of the focus of attention in working memory: Results from a modified N-Back task. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology A: Human Experimental Psychology, 58A, 134–154.
(1997). Meta-analyses of age-cognition relations in adulthood: Estimates of linear and nonlinear age effects and structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 122, 231–249.
(2000). Stereotyping against your will: The role of inhibitory ability in stereotyping and prejudice among the elderly. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 523–532.
(2001). Similarity and emergence in conceptual combination. Journal of Memory and Language, 45, 21–38.
(