Impression Formation

Impression formation in social psychology refers to the process by which individual pieces of information about another person are integrated to form a global impression of the individual (i.e. how one person perceives another person). Underlying this entire process is the notion that an individual expects unity and coherence in the personalities of others. Consequently, an individual's impression of another should be similarly unified. Two major theories have been proposed to explain how this process of integration takes place. The Gestalt approach views the formation of a general impression as the sum of several interrelated impressions. Central to this theory is the idea that as an individual seeks to form a coherent and meaningful impression of another person, previous impressions significantly influence or color his or her interpretation of subsequent information. In contrast to the Gestalt approach, the cognitive algebra approach of information integration theory asserts that individual experiences are evaluated independently, and combined with previous evaluations to form a constantly changing impression of a person. An important and related area to impression formation is the study of person perception, which refers to the process of observing behavior, making dispositional attributions, and then adjusting those inferences based on the information available. Solomon Asch (1946) is credited with conducting the seminal research on impression formation.