by John Skowronski, Ph.D., Donal Carlston, Ph.D., Lynda Mae, M.A. & Matthew Crawford

It appears to go against common sense, not to mention classic psychological theory, but researchers say they have identified a common and apparently mindless, psychological phenomenon that plays a previously unrecognized role in the way people form impressions of other people.

Specifically, they've found that when someone attributes positive or negative traits to someone else, the listener will often attribute those same traits to the speaker. "In other words," the authors write, "politicians who allege corruption by their opponents may themselves be perceived as dishonest, critics who praise artists may themselves be perceived as talented, and gossips who describe others' infidelities may themselves be viewed as immoral."

The researchers conducted a series of four studies on the phenomenon they call "spontaneous trait transference." Three of the four studies involved participants looking at photographs accompanied by brief statements. In the first study, the statements were ostensibly about someone the person in the photograph knew. In the second, the statements were either about the person in the photograph or about someone else. In the third study, participants were clearly told that the photographs and the statements had nothing to do with each other; they had been paired at random. In the final study, participants watched videotapes of actors answering off-screen questions about themselves or about someone they knew.

Some of the statements accompanying the photographs (or made on the videotape) were designed to elicit a positive or negative trait. For example "cruel" was implied by the statement "He hates animals. Today he was walking to the store and he saw this puppy. So he kicked it out of his way."

Consistently through the studies, participants attributed the elicited trait to the speakers, even though these speakers described someone other than themselves. This occurred even when participants were specifically told that there was no connection between the speakers and the statements, suggesting, the authors say, that this phenomenon is irrational and largely outside of conscious awareness. Be careful of the statements you make - they might bounce back and stick to you!

Reference:

Spontaneous Trait Transference: Communicators Take on the Qualities They Describe in Others by John J. Skowronski, Ph.D., Donald E. Carlston, Ph.D., Lynda Mae, M.A. & Matthew T. Crawford in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 74, No. 4.

This information received from the American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC.