Impression Formation
Each concept that is in play in a situation has a transient affective meaning in addition to an associated sentiment. The transient corresponds to an impression created by recent events.
Events modify impressions on all three EPA dimensions in complex ways that are described with non-linear equations obtained through empirical studies.
Here are two examples of impression-formation processes.
- An actor who behaves disagreeably seems less good, especially if the object of the behavior is innocent and powerless, like a child.
- A powerful person seems desperate when performing extremely forceful acts on another, and the object person may seem invincible.
A social action creates impressions of the actor, the object person, the behavior, and the setting.
Read more about this topic: Affect Control Theory
Famous quotes containing the words impression and/or formation:
“The places we have known do not only belong to the world of space in which we situate them for the sake of simplicity. They were but a thin slice between contiguous impression which formed our lives back then; the memory of a certain image is but the regret of a certain instant; and the houses, the roads, the avenues are fleeting, alas! as the years.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)
“That for which Paul lived and died so gloriously; that for which Jesus gave himself to be crucified; the end that animated the thousand martyrs and heroes who have followed his steps, was to redeem us from a formal religion, and teach us to seek our well-being in the formation of the soul.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)