Social updating and impression formation

Impressions of others play an important role in social interactions. Whether we think someone is generous or selfish influences behaviour by guiding who we approach and avoid, as well as how we might interact with them. To date, psychological research has primarily focused on impressions that are formed based on one-off, largely explicit and categorical depictions of an individual’s character. However, it is clear that we also form impressions of others based on more subtle social cues, and we frequently do so in dynamic or group contexts. Further, both individuals and groups can behave inconsistently over time, changing how they behave towards us or others, which makes it important for us to detect variations in their behaviour and update our impressions accordingly. Therefore, in order to build a more complete picture of how impressions guide behaviour, the current project investigates both how subtle social cues that change over time impact incidental impression formation, and the role of group context on such impressions.