Typicality of Interpersonal Situations: The Role of Affect in Determining Contextual Variations in Typicality Norms

This study deals with the relationship between affect and cognition. This relationship is conceptualized in the terms of Bower's (Bower & Cohen, 1982) theory. Subjects (early adolescents aged 12 or 14, boy or girl) were asked to imagine themselves as the actor in an interpersonal situation. The situation was either intimate or non-intimate, and the hypothetical partner was either a boy or a girl. The subject's task was to produce a series of sentences expressing the behaviours considered representative of each situation. The results indicated (1) the existence of a typicality hierarchy (whose characteristics are examined here) and (2) variations in this hierarchy according to the affective tone of the situation (intimate or non-intimate). We explain how the cultural, interpersonal situation norms acquired by adolescents can account for these variations. Thus, contrary to what some authors contend, variations in typicality are not random.