Cited by 1,550Social and Intergroup PsychologyCategorization, perception, and languageDecision-Making and Behavioral Economics

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Negativity and extremity biases in impression formation: A review of explanations.

Skowronski, John J., Carlston, Donal E.·1989·Psychological Bulletin

DOI 10.1037/0033-2909.105.1.131

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Abstract

Mise au point sur les explications de certains biais lies aux recherches sur la formation des impressions, et presentation d'un modele fonde sur des indices de categorisation du stimulus pour rendre compte de tels biais

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Crossref · 10.1037/0033-2909.105.1.131

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Harrison, A. A., & Johnson, J. T. (2000) · Acta Astronautica · doi:10.1016/s0094-5765(00)00036-9 · Cited by 7
Atypicality and the two fundamental dimensions: Applying the negativity effect on warmth to group perception
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“Interestingly enough, the available research on the negativity effect would seem to be restricted to person perception (Czapinski, 1988; Kanouse & Hanson, 1971; Peeters & Czapinski, 1990; Skowronski & Carlston, 1987, 1989; Wojciszke, Brycz, & Borkenau, 1993).”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluential
Attitudes as prepared reflexes
Melnikoff, D. E., Lambert, R., & Bargh, J. A. (2020) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2019.103950 · Cited by 8
Hashtag war: 2019 Presidential election rhetoric in Indonesia
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“Such a change in scheme occurs due to paradox to the expectations they originally held (Coovert & Reeder, 1990; Skowronski & Carlston, 1989).”
Background
Beyond the Lexical Sense of Online Reviews: The Role of Emoticons and Consumer Experience
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“…产品更贵、质量更好(Valenzuela & Raghubir, 2015)。在语言学领域 , 人们认为右侧要比左侧更规范 (Valenzuela & Raghubir, 2015)。具体到本文研究情境, 当愤怒 emoji 被放在句尾时, 根据人们从左到右的阅读习惯(Deng & Kahn, 2009)和水平效应, 人们会觉得这种写法更符合规范, 愤怒 emoji 表达了信息发送者的愤怒情感和消极态度 ; 当愤怒 emoji 被放在句中时, 人们会觉得这种写法规范性较差, 这种写法可能要重点表达某种态度, 结合愤怒的 emoji ,…”
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“A body of literature also suggests that negative information is considered more diagnostic or informative than positive information (Maheswaran & Meyers-Levy, 1990; Skowronski & Carlston, 1989).”
Background
Smoking attitudes, intentions, and behavior among college student smokers: Positivity outweighs negativity
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“Tversky, 1979) and impression formation ( Skowronski & Carlston, 1989 ) is that negativity has a”
Background
Negativity bias in defeasible reasoning
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“As already shown for decision-making (e.g., Atthowe 1960; Kahneman & Tversky, 1983) and impression formation (e.g., Aloise, 1993; Skowronski & Carlston, 1989; Wyer & Hinkle, 1976), people also seem to respond stronger to negative information compared to positive information in defeasible reasoning.”
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Inconsistent Signals, Earnings Announcements and Market Uncertainty
He, W., Jackson, A. B., & Liang, K. (2016) · Abacus · doi:10.1111/abac.12156 · Cited by 9
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A Parsimonious Theory Can Account for Complex Phenomena
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Mehdizadeh, A., & Hilbert, M. (2025) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2510.19107
“…stance ("No") is significantly harder than overturning a positive one ("Yes") because people give negative information greater attention and cognitive weight [136], view it as more diagnostic of the truth [137], and may even process it through a more sensitive and distinct neural substrate [138].”
Untitled work
(2000) · doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-0771(200001/03)13:1
Untitled work
Jetten (1997) · doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-0992(199709/10)27:5

Authors: Skowronski, J. J., & Carlston, D. E.
Affiliations: The Ohio State University Newark (US)
ORCID: Skowronski, John J.
Venue: Psychological Bulletin
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Published: 1989
Volume: 105
Issue: 1
Pages: 131-142
ISSN: 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
1939-1455
DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.105.1.131
OpenAlex: W1981706854
Cited by: 1,550
References: 98
Citations by year: 2026: 39 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 61 · 2022: 43 · 2021: 73 · 2020: 90 · 2019: 84 · 2018: 64 · 2017: 72 · 2016: 56 · 2015: 58 · 2014: 68 · 2013: 70 · 2012: 51
FWCI: 48.95
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Categorization, perception, and language
Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
Keywords: negativity bias, impression formation, stimulus classification, social perception

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Negativity and extremity biases in impression formation: A review of explanations.

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