Persuasive Communication - How Audiences Decide. 2nd Edition

Person Perception in Audience Decision Making 281

other, stopped moving, or grasped each other. One group of viewers was told the large fi gure was

a rapist (rapist role) attacking the two smaller fi gures (victim role). The other group was told the

large fi gure was a “guardian of treasure” (guard role) and that the two smaller fi gures were burglars

(thief role). The fi rst group identifi ed breaks in the action that were substantially different from the

ones the second group identifi ed.^273 A review of the breakpoint research concludes that audiences

are able to search for different features of others’ ongoing nonverbal behaviors just as they are able

to search for different verbal information in documents.^274

Audiences will assume that the default slot values of their activated role schema are correct

unless they have access to more accurate individuating information about the person they are

observing.^275 When audiences have little individuating information about the person, they will fi ll

the empty slots in their schema with information that is true of the stereotype.^276

Moreover, when stereotypical information is made available to them, audiences seek less indi-

viduating information about target individuals. In one study, 346 undergraduates were allowed to

request information describing several target individuals so they could form impressions of them.

The target individuals were identifi ed either by occupations associated with a stereotype (e.g., a

librarian) or by nondescriptive labels (e.g., “Person 1”). When targets were identifi ed by occupa-

tions associated with a stereotype, the students requested very little information about them.^277

An activated role schema also affects audience recall. Audience members who are told

about a person’s occupation before meeting them remember information about the person

that is consistent with the person’s occupation better than information that is inconsistent

with it.^278 In a study of the effects of role schemata activated after the audience had observed

an individual, viewers first watched a video of a conversation between a woman and her

husband. Then half of the viewers were told she was a waitress, and the other half the woman

was a librarian. In the video, she exhibited an equal number of prototypical waitress and

librarian behaviors. After learning the woman’s occupation, the viewers recalled behaviors

that were consistent with the primed role schema more accurately than behaviors that did

not fit the stereotype.^279

In another study of the effects of role schemata on recall, mock recruiters read a list of traits

describing a job applicant. The mock recruiters were then asked to decide if the applicant was

suitable for a particular occupation, thus activating a particular role schema. The mock recruiters

recalled applicant traits from the list that were relevant to the activated role schema better than irrel-

evant traits.^280 In a similar study, students watched another student registering for college classes.

Then the students were told that the other student was either a chemistry, music, or psychology

major. The students recalled signifi cantly more facts about the other student that were consistent

with the other student’s supposed major than facts that were inconsistent with it.^281

Once a role schema is activated, audiences may even confuse a person’s actual behavior with the

schema’s default behaviors. A test of viewers’ memories of prototypical leadership behaviors fi nds

that viewers have diffi culty distinguishing between schema-consistent behaviors that were present

in a target leader and those that were not.^282 When audiences encounter behaviors that are incon-

sistent with the default behaviors of their activated role schema, they take longer both to encode

and to acquire them.^283

Integration of Information About Behaviors, Traits, and Emotions

Once the audience acquires information about a professional’s behaviors, traits, and emotions that is

relevant to their activated role schema, how does the audience combine that information to arrive

at an overall impression of or attitude toward the person? A think-aloud study of voters deciding

between two political candidates found that the voters rarely produced overall evaluative statements