Speeches/Conference Papers (150)

In studies examining the influence of recall on judgments, social psychologists have generally concentrated on the content of recalled material rather than on the process of recall. To investigate the impact of recalled behaviors (content) and the ease with which these behaviors came to mind (process) on assessment of one's own assertiveness, 158 West German students were asked to.describe either six (easy recall) or twelve (difficult recall) examples of their own assertive or non-assertive behaviors. To manipulate the distinctiveness of the recall, subjects were told the task would or would not be difficult. On the basis of the availability heuristic it was assumed that subjects in the difficult recall conditions would assess themselves as being less assertive (or non-assertive) than subjects in the easy recall condition, despite the larger number of recalled behaviors. Results clearly supported this prediction, suggesting that the ease with which examples could be brought to mind was used as an informational basis for evaluating personal attributes. Results also supported Bem's (1982) self-perception theory by demonstrating that individuals infer their personality characteristics from the content of behavioral information they recall, as well as the ease with which those behaviors come to mind. (Author/JAC) * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document.. * t