Lay dispositionism and implicit theories of personality.

TLDR

Lay dispositionism refers to lay people's tendency to use traits as the basic unit of analysis in social perception. Five studies explored the relation between the practices indicative of lay dispositionism and people's implicit theories about the nature of personal attributes. An experiment manipulating implicit theories provided preliminary evidence for a causal role of implicit theories in lay dispositionism. Entity theorists made stronger future behavioral predictions and trait inferences from behavior than incremental theorists, a pattern that held in both the United States and Hong Kong and was supported by the experimental manipulation suggesting a causal role.

Abstract

Lay dispositionism refers to lay people's tendency to use traits as the basic unit of analysis in social perception (L. Ross & R. E. Nisbett, 1991). Five studies explored the relation between the practices indicative of lay dispositionism and people's implicit theories about the nature of personal attributes. As predicted, compared with those who believed that personal attributes are malleable (incremental theorists), those who believed in fixed traits (entity theorists) used traits or trait-relevant information to make stronger future behavioral predictions (Studies 1 and 2) and made stronger trait inferences from behavior (Study 3). Moreover, the relation between implicit theories and lay dispositionism was found in both the United States (a more individualistic culture) and Hong Kong (a more collectivistic culture), suggesting this relation to be generalizable across cultures (Study 4). Finally, an experiment in which implicit theories were manipulated provided preliminary evidence for the possible causal role of implicit theories in lay dispositionism (Study 5).