Implicit theories of personality: what they are and what they explain

Who has never generated a first wrong impression about someone? Everyone, to a greater or lesser extent, judges others based on what is seen first.

It is usual that, if you see a beautiful person, you assume that they are also charismatic and warm, or if you see a person who wears horn-rimmed glasses, it is assumed that they are intelligent and responsible.

implicit theories of personality they are related to the way in which inferences are made about other people based on how little is known about them. They are widely applied on a daily basis and have profound repercussions at a social level.

Let's see in more detail its definition, what factors influence the formation of first impressions and what are the implications for society.

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Implicit theories of personality: what are they?

Implicit theories of personality are the biases that a person may commit when forms impressions of other people you don't know, based on a lot of information limited.

certain factors influence the way in which first impressions of others are generated, such as the context, the prejudices that the individual himself has, in addition to the state of humor or the rumors that have spread about the prejudiced person.

The first definition of this type of theories was given by Bruner and Tagiuri in 1954, defining them as the knowledge that 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 is Solomon Ach, who, in the mid-1940s, carried out investigations to specify what factors influenced the formation of these first impressions.

General theories about this concept

There have been two theories that have tried to explain in more depth how and why people, when we see another individual with certain characteristics and traits, we generate inferences about his personality, assuming her behavior and way of being.

consistency theory

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

If positive traits have been seen in the judged person, it is likely that the rest of his 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 to remain stable over time. That is, it is seen as if the characteristics attributed to another person remained constant throughout the life of the other individual.

Within this theory there are two positions:

On the one hand, the entity theory, which maintains that personality traits are stable over time and situations, and that assumptions can be made about the person's behavior in general terms based on a reduced repertoire of their behaviors.

On the other side is the incremental theory, which holds that traits are something more dynamic, variable over time.

• You may be interested in: "Theories of causal attribution: definition and authors"

Factors influencing implicit theories of personality

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

1. Core features vs. peripheral features

When observing a person for the first time or receiving previous information about it, the features seen are not equally taken into account. There are traits that stand out above others. Within the investigation carried out by Asch himself, this idea was fundamental.

The central features are those that exert a greater role and force in the formation of the impression, while the peripherals are those that are not given as much importance, having a lower weight in the formation of the impression.

Asch was able to observe this by researching him. In one of his studies, he asked participants to form an impression of a person described as 'intelligent, skilled, hard-working, warm, energetic, practical and cautious,' while others he asked to portray someone described as 'intelligent, skillful, hard-working, cool, energetic, practical, and cautious.

He found that despite only one feature being changed, the impressions the participants made differed significantly. In addition, when asked to answer which traits seemed most remarkable, "warm" and "cold" stood out above the rest.

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

2. Effect of observer traits

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

For example, if you consider yourself very extraverted, when you meet other people who are extraverted, the impression you will get from them will tend to be more positive. Also, if one sees himself as more reserved, when meeting people who are also unsociable, he 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 like it happens when you see a person of the same ethnicity, culture or religion.

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

3. Fill the gaps

Sometimes, and as simple as it may seem, people, when we receive little information about others, proceed to "fill in the gaps" that exist about their personality, attributing features consistent with what has already been seen.

4. primacy effect

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

The first features observed They will define the direction in which the printing will be done, causing them to be analyzed based on what has already been assumed first.

5. State of humor

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

Being in a good mood favors a more comprehensive and holistic analysis of the other person, taking into account all its features or trying to have the maximum information about it.

On the other hand, if you are not having a good day, it is more common to opt for a strategy that focuses attention on specific details and features.

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

Implications of this type of psychological theories

Implicit theories of personality have many consequences at the social level, especially when others are misjudged. Also, it has been suggested that these types of ways of generating impressions influence memory when it comes to remembering others, remembering, especially, the traits and behaviors seen in the person that are consistent with how the first impression was generated.

They have been associated with the degree to which a certain employee action is evaluated by supervisors. For example, if a worker presents a remarkable trait that is positive for the organization, his boss assumes that he may have other positive traits and the first impression is generated based on it.

All this can be related to two phenomena.

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

In second place, physical attractiveness often influences the way in which the impression is given. If a person is beautiful, it is often assumed that he will have socially desirable characteristics, whereas that if a person is not, rather, graceful, it will be assumed that he presents characteristics negative. This idea is popularly known, for this reason there is the saying 'don't judge a book by its cover'.

Bibliographic references:

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