Understanding Implicit Theories of Personality and Their Explanations

A summary of implicit personality theories, which are very important in psychology.

Who has never made a wrong first impression about someone? Everyone, to a greater or lesser extent, judges others based on what they see first.

It is common that, if you see a good-looking person, you assume that he or she is also charismatic and warm, or if you see a person wearing horn-rimmed glasses, you assume that he or she is intelligent and responsible.

Implicit theories of personality relate to how you make inferences about other people based on what little you know about them. They are widely applied in everyday life and have profound implications at the societal level.

Let's take a closer look at their definition, what factors influence the formation of first impressions, and what the implications are in society.

Implicit theories of personality: what are they?

Implicit theories of personality are the biases that a person may commit when forming impressions of other people whom he does not know, based on a limited amount of information.

Certain factors influence the way in which first impressions of others are generated, such as the context. The first definition of this type of theorizing is that it is based on the context, the individual's own prejudices, as well as the mood or rumors that have been spread about the person being prejudiced.

The first definition of this type of theories was given by Bruner and Tagiuri in 1954, defining them as the knowledge one has about a person and the way in which such knowledge is used to make inferences about his or her personality. However, among the first to address this concept was Solomon Ach, who, in the mid-1940s, conducted research to specify what factors influenced the formation of these first impressions.

General theories on this concept

Two theories have tried to explain in more depth how and why people, when we see another individual with certain characteristics and traits, generate inferences about his or her personality, we generate inferences about their personality. We assume their behavior and way of being.

Consistency theory

This theory refers to the way in which how a newly generated impression is related to what is already known about the person being judged.

If positive traits have been seen in the person being judged, it is likely to be assumed that the rest of his or her traits are also desirable. On the other hand, if what was observed was negative, it will be assumed that the person will have mostly undesirable characteristics.

Attribution theory

This theory describes how people view assumed traits in other individuals as remaining stable over time. That is, it is seen as if the characteristics attributed to another person remain constant throughout the lifetime of the other individual.

Within this theory there are two positions:

On the one hand, the entity theory, which holds that personality traits are stable over time and across situations, and that assumptions can be made. On the one hand, the entity theory, which holds that personality traits are stable over time and situations, and that assumptions can be made about a person's behavior in general terms on the basis of a small repertoire of his or her behaviors.

On the other hand, there is the incremental theorywhich holds that traits are something more dynamic, variable over time.

Factors influencing implicit theories of personality

These are the elements that come into play in implicit theories of personality.

1. Central traits vs. peripheral traits

When first observing a person or receiving prior information about him/her, the traits seen are not equally taken into account. There are traits that stand out above others. Within the research carried out by Asch himself, this idea was fundamental.

The central traits are those that exert a greater protagonism and force in the formation of the impression, while the peripheral ones are those that stand out above the others. The peripheral features are those that are not attributed as much importance, having a lesser weight in the formation of the impression.

Asch was able to observe this through his research. In one of his studies, he asked some participants to form an impression of a person described as 'intelligent, skilled, hardworking, warm, energetic, practical and cautious', while others were asked to form an impression of a person described as 'intelligent, skilled, hardworking, cool, energetic, practical and cautious.

He found that, despite changing only one trait, the impressions formed by the participants differed significantly. In addition, when he asked them to answer which traits they found most salient, 'warm' and 'cool' stood out above the rest.

Also, he was able to observe that when a central trait was placed as negative, as is the case of 'cold', its sign was imposed, even if the rest of the peripheral traits were positive.

2. Effect of the observer's traits

People self-attribute traits to themselves. The more importance we attribute to a certain trait about ourselves, the more likely we are to see it in others. Of course, the trait in question will vary from person to person, and context plays an important role.

For example, if one considers oneself to be very extraverted, when encountering other extraverted people, one's impression of them will tend to be more positive. Also, if one sees oneself as more reserved, when encountering people who are also unsociable, one will see them as more desirable.

One of the explanations behind this phenomenon would be the perception of seeing people with characteristics similar to one's own as members of the ingroup, just as it happens when one sees oneself as more reserved. One of the explanations behind this phenomenon would be the perception of seeing people with characteristics similar to one's own as members of the ingroup, just as happens when one sees a person of the same ethnicity, culture or religion.

By considering them as part of the same group as a personality characteristic or trait, the first impression tends to be biased in positive terms.

3. Filling in gaps

Sometimes, as simple as it may seem, when we receive little information about others, we proceed to 'fill in the gaps' about their personality, attributing to them traits that are consistent with what we have already seen. traits consistent with what we have already seen..

4. Primacy effect

More weight is given to information that has been received first compared to that which has come later.

The first features observed will define the direction in which the impression is made. The first features observed will define the direction in which the impression is made, causing them to be analyzed in terms of what has already been assumed first.

5. Mood

Mood can influence the way in which the first impression is generated.

Being in a good mood favors a more integral and holistic analysis of the other person. If you are not having a good day, it is more common to opt for a strategy in which you focus on specific details and traits.

On the other hand, if you are not having a good day, it is more common to opt for a strategy in which you focus your attention on specific details and traits.

In addition, there is some congruence with the mood and the impression that has been made. If you are in a bad mood you are more likely to make a negative first impression of another person.

Implications of this type of psychological theories

Implicit theories of personality involve many consequences at the social level, especially when misjudging others. Also, it has been suggested that this type of impression generation influences memory when remembering others, especially remembering the traits and behaviors seen in the person that are in line with how the first impression was generated. generated.

They have been associated with the degree to which a given employee action is evaluated by supervisors. For example, if an employee presents a salient trait that is positive for the organization, his boss assumes that he may have other traits that are also positive, and the first impression is generated on that basis.

All this can be related to two phenomena.

First, we have the halo effectwhich is the tendency to conclude that a person's traits are all positive if they show a small number of them, or, conversely, if they only show a few negative ones, it is assumed that the rest will also be positive. One could simplify this by categorizing people as undoubtedly good or undoubtedly bad based on a few behaviors seen.

Secondly, physical attractiveness often influences the way in which impressions are made. If a person is good-looking, it is usually assumed that he or she has socially desirable characteristics, whereas if a person is rather unattractive, it is assumed that he or she has negative characteristics. This idea is popularly known, for that reason there is the saying 'don't judge a book by its cover'.

Bibliographical references:

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