Influences of Memorizing Information on Impressions of a Person

Abstract The present three experiments were designed to study influences of memorization on personality impressions and primacy effects. The experiments, individually administered to 102 college students, used descriptions of extrovert (E) or introvert (I) behavior by a youth named Jim or combined the two descriptions without a paragraph indention (EI or IE). Whether they were limited to three readings of the communication or allowed unlimited readings, and whether they wrote or recited the communication from memory, the subjects responded to a 36-item questionnaire about Jim that transcended the memorized information. Failures to respond in the second experiment were as infrequent as in the basic experiment where the communication was read only once. Primacy effects prevailed, although in some cases they were weaker than in the basic experiment. Another variation did not explicitly ask the students to memorize the communication but had them answer the questionnaire three times: after reading the EI or IE communication once, 1 week later from memory, and after rereading the communication. Responses were similar on the three questionnaires. Although primacy effects decreased in time, on the third questionnaire they were still as strong as in the basic experiment.