Contact: Doug Fizel
Public Affairs Office
(202) 336-5706
[email protected] (email)
EMBARGO: NOT FOR RELEASE UNTIL 6:00 PM (EST), MARCH 18, 1998
NEW STUDY FINDS THAT MOM WAS RIGHT: IF YOU DON'T HAVE
ANYTHING NICE TO SAY ABOUT SOMEONE, DON'T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL
Previously Unrecognized Boomerang Effect of Gossip Discovered
WASHINGTON -- It appears to go against common sense -- not
to mention classic psychological theory -- but researchers writing
in the April edition of the American Psychological Association's
(APA) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology say they have
identified a common, but 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."
In a recent communication, the authors suggest that this
phenomenon could play a role in the public's reaction reaction to
participants in the recent White House scandal. "For example,"
they note, "when Kenneth Starr accuses Bill Clinton of perjury,
Starr himself may be seen as more deceitful. Similarly, when Linda
Tripp claims that Monica Lewinsky had sex with the President, Tripp
herself may be seen as more promiscuous. The gist of our research
is that when you gossip, you become associated with the
characteristics you describe, ultimately leading those
characteristics to be 'transferred' to you."
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." But 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.
Article: "Spontaneous Trait Transference: Communicators
Take on the Qualities They Describe in Others" by John J.
Skowronski, Ph.D., The Ohio State University at Newark; Donal E.
Carlston, Ph.D., and Lynda Mae, M.A., Purdue University and Matthew
T. Crawford, Indiana University Bloomington in The Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 74, No. 4.
(Full text available from the APA Public Affairs Office.)
John J. Skowronski, Ph.D
(740) 366-9348
[email protected]
# # #
RSS