Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2004

Publication Source

Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology

Abstract

People who judge their relationships as more supportive enjoy better mental health than people who judge their relationships more negatively. We investigated how people made these judgments; specifically, how people weighed different types of information about targets under three different conditions: when judgments reflected the personality of perceivers, the objective characteristics of targets, and the unique relationships between perceivers and targets. Participants (i.e., perceivers) judged the same four videotaped targets on personality, similarity to perceivers and likely supportiveness. As in previous research, perceivers based their judgments on perceived target similarity to perceivers, and on target personality. However, how perceivers weighed personality and similarity information varied dramatically depending upon whether the judgment reflected the personality of perceivers, the objective characteristics of targets, or the relationship between perceivers and targets. Implications for understanding how people make support judgments were discussed.

Inclusive pages

817-835

ISBN/ISSN

0736-7236

Document Version

Published Version

Comments

All rights reserved under International Copyright Convention. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or stored in or introduced into any information storage or retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the written permission of The Guilford Press.

Article is included in repository with the permission of the publisher. Permission documentation is on file.

Publisher information: Guilford Publications, 370 7th Ave., Ste. 1200. New York, NY 10001 / Phone 212-431-9800 or 800-365-7006 / website: www.guilford.com

Publisher

Guilford Press

Volume

23

Issue

6

Peer Reviewed

yes

Link to published version

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