Abstract

Three experiments were performed to test weight<-d averaging model theory of impression formation. In Experiment I, the negative salience effects were found in the high-extreme-words-group, but not in the moderate-extreme-words-group when the dependent measure was in the favorable-unfavorable dimension. In Experiment II, the same two groups did not differ in their ratings on the likable-dislikable dimension. In Experiment Ill, the hypothesis that the higher the meaning-range of words, the higher the weights of the words are was tested. It was concluded from these results that the impressions in impresion formation experiments are function of the extremenesses of stimulus-words and ego-involvement-level of subjects to that target person.