Can good or bad moods influence people’s tendency to rely on irrelevant information when forming impressions (halo effects)? On the basis of recent work on affect and cognition, this experiment predicted and found that positive affect increased and negative affect eliminated the halo effect. After an autobiographical mood induction (recalling happy or sad past events), participants (N= 246) rea...

This study advances theories of impression formation by focusing on two factors that generate emotional responses: physical attractiveness and positive word use. Although considerable research on impression formation exists, most studies consider factors in isolation and neglect possible interactions. Our theory introduces competing mechanisms regarding possible interaction effects, and we empi...

Observers frequently form impressions of other people based on complex or conflicting information. Rather than being objective, these impressions are often biased by observers' motives. For instance, observers often downplay negative information they learn about ingroup members. Here, we characterize the neural systems associated with biased impression formation. Participants learned positive a...

A pretest was used to identify whether the traits of honesty or intelligence were either central or peripheral to individual subjects' self-conceptions. In a subsequent impression formation task, these subjects' impressions of others were influenced by both subject trait centrality and judgment dimension. When presented with target descriptions containing both positive and negative behaviors, t...

Online dating systems are used by millions of people every year to find a romantic partner, yet many of these users report feeling frustrated by the online dating process. This paper presents an interview study in-progress of online dating system use. Findings from 35 users of a popular online dating system in the United States indicate that, contrary to previous research, users typically do no...

Hindsight is 20/20, they say derisively. It cannot isolate causes or predict the future. Th ere are no control groups, and who’s to say it could not have been otherwise. We are experimental social psychologists, plagued by counterfactuals and mistrustful of post hoc explanations. So take this brief selective history with a large grain of salt. Also note that any history of impression formation ...