Covariation information,causal questioning,and interpersonal behavior

The effects of covariation information on perceivers' behavior toward a target person were investigated in a face-to-face setting. Subjects observed a female stimulus person behave in an impolite fashion. They were then presented with consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness information, patterned to imply either a person or an entity explanation for the rude behavior. Some subjects immediately completed a measure of their attributions, whereas others did not answer any attribution question. Subjects then interacted with the target person in an interview setting and afterward rated her on several evaluative dimensions. As predicted, the covariation information presented to subjects affected their impressions of the target person and their behavior toward her during the interaction. These effects were consistent across measures when subjects did not answer the attribution question, but appeared only on certain measures when subjects answered the attribution item prior to the interaction. This pattern of findings was interpreted as showing that the attribution question made subjects uncertain about the true cause of the target's rude behavior.