Impression Formation in Informal Conversations

Abstract

Reactions to the statements made during an informal conversation are likely to be influenced by perceptions of their pragmatic implications (i.e., why the statements occurred) as well as their literal implications for the persons and objects to which they refer. Recipients' sensitivity to a statement's pragmatic meaning may depend on (a) their information processing objectives at the time they encounter the statement and (b) the extent to which the statement violates normative expectations concerning the content and style of messages that are typically transmitted in the social context in which it occurs. These hypotheses are supported by research in which subjects were asked to form impressions of persons on the basis of information exchanged during conversations in which they both did and did not actively participate. The cognitive mediators of the impressions formed in informal conversations are quite different from those that have usually been investigated in previous research on person memory and judgment, in which only the semantic implications of the information presented typically come into play.

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