>Cognitive complexity and impression formation in informal social interaction

Abstract

While awaiting the arrival of the experimenter, pairs of subjects participated in ten minutes of spontaneous casual interaction. The impression which each formed of the other was assessed. Analyses of these impressions compared subjects differing in initial level of cognitive complexity. High complexity subjects, in comparison with noncomplex subjects, formed more differentiated, more abstract, more highly organized, and less evaluatively polarized interpersonal impressions. These differences, consistent with the results of related research not based on direct social communication, are interpreted as supporting a cognitive‐developmental approach to impression formation.