Individual Differences in Person Memory: The Role of Sociopolitical Ideology and In-Group Versus Out-Group Membership in Responses to Socially Relevant Behavior

Abstract

Participants were told to form an impression of either a liberal or a conservative target person whose behaviors reflected both a liberal and a conservative social ideology. They had better recall of behaviors that were descriptively inconsistent (vs. consistent) with the target's ideology when this ideology differed from their own. This was not true, however, when the target's ideology was similar to theirs. In addition, participants had better recall of behaviors they personally considered to be undesirable. This latter difference was more pronounced among liberals when they were told to focus their attention on the opinions reflected by the behaviors described, but it was more pronounced among conservatives when they were told to focus on the behaviors per se. Implications of the results for existing research and theory in person impression formation are discussed.