| Abstract: | Two factors that were thought to promote or inhibit schema-based or stereotypic responding in impression formation were examined in two experiments. Subjects were asked to provide evaluations of artwork supposedly painted by either mentally retarded or nonretarded children. Based on previous research, it was assumed that subjects would expect relatively poor quality artwork from retarded children, which would he consistent with a negative schema that they maintain for this group. It was also predicted that this negative schema would result in cursory examinations and unfavorable evaluations of the retarded artists' artwork, but only when the evaluative conditions were conducive to schematic responding. Specifically, the schema effect was predicted to occur when the artwork was of poor quality and subjects were instructed to provide an overall evaluation of the painting rather than an assessment of its specific characteristics. No derogation was expected when these factors were not present. Results supported these hypotheses. Additional analyses indicated that subjects were conducting a cursory search of the target stimuli when conditions favored schema-based responding. |
