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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“Skowronski and Carlston (1989) provide theoretical perspectives on why negativity bias plays an important role in the process of impression formation.”
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“4 For a more thorough discussion of these theories, please consult Skowronski and Carlston (1989).”
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“It is because audiences place more value on negative information when evaluating an object ( Skowronski & Carlston, 1989 ; Klein, 1996 ).”
Background
The Affective Effect on Political Judgment
Wu, H. D., & Coleman, R. (2014) · Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly · doi:10.1177/1077699014538825 · Cited by 17
Babyface effects: A double-edged sword in healthcare service evaluations
Chang, C., & Chen, C.-X. (2015) · Asian Journal Of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/ajsp.12105 · Cited by 17
Facebook Influence Among Incoming College Freshmen
D’Angelo, J. D., Zhang, C., Eickhoff, J. C., & Moreno, M. A. (2014) · Bulletin of Science Technology & Society · doi:10.1177/0270467614538002 · Cited by 17
“From warmth and competence (Fiske, Cuddy, & Glick, 2007), to beauty (Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani, & Long, 1991), to negativity and extremity (Skowronski & Carlston, 1989), scholars have long been interested in the basic idea of meaningful cues.”
Background
Measuring communication channel experiences and their influence on voting in the 2010 British General Election
Baines, P. R., Macdonald, E. K., Wilson, H., & Blades, F. (2011) · Journal of Marketing Management · doi:10.1080/0267257x.2011.587827 · Cited by 17
“…information is weighted more strongly than positive information because it is frequently more diagnostic or relevant (Klein & Ahluwalia, 2005; Skowronski & Carlston, 1989), and still others arguing that negative advertising can induce negative impressions toward both the target and the…”
Background
A Scope of the Social Brain in Multiple Sclerosis: Insights From Neuroimaging Studies
Chalah, M. A., & Ayache, S. S. (2020) · Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology · doi:10.1097/wnn.0000000000000227 · Cited by 17
Ingroup ambivalence and experienced affect: the moderating role of social identification
Costarelli, S., & Palmonari, A. (2003) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.171 · Cited by 17
Are LULUs still enduringly objectionable?
Greenberg, M., Popper, F. J., & Truelove, H. B. (2012) · Journal of Environmental Planning and Management · doi:10.1080/09640568.2011.623070 · Cited by 17
“Such outcomes are consistent with the literature showing that negative information has more impact and duration (Skowronski and Carlston 1989 , Siegrist and Cvetkovich 2001 ).”
Result
The Psychological Determinants of Candidate Evaluation and Voting Preference
Ottati, V., Wyer, R. S., Deiger, M. E., & Houston, D. A. (2002) · Social psychological applications to social issues · doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-0569-3_1 · Cited by 17
“Basic social cognition research ( Skowronski & Carlston, 1989 ), however, suggests that neg ative information is given more weight only when it is more likely to serve as a diag nostic cue that discriminates between a given trait inference (e.g., honest) and its opposite (e.g., dishonest).”
Background
Using context effects to increase a leader's advantage: What set of alternatives should be included in the comparison set?
Moran, S., & Meyer, J. (2006) · International Journal of Research in Marketing · doi:10.1016/j.ijresmar.2005.09.009 · Cited by 16
Evaluations, Attitude Similarity, and Interpersonal Attraction: Testing the Hypothesis of Weighting Interference Across Responses
Singh, R., Lin, P. K. F., Tan, H. L., & Ho, L. J. (2008) · Basic and Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/01973530802375052 · Cited by 17
“Clearly, information weighting depends on not only the diagnosticity of information for the response sought (Skowronski & Carlston, 1987, 1989) but also the adaptive value of the responses required (Peeters & Czapinski, 1990).”
Background
Being better than others but otherwise perfectly normal: Perceptions of uniqueness and similarity in close relationships
Lange, P. A. M. V., Rusbult, C. E., Goossens, A., Görts, C. A., & STALPERS, M. (1999) · Personal Relationships · doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.1999.tb00192.x · Cited by 17
The Influences of Performance Cues and Observational Focus on Performance Rating Accuracy1
Murphy, M. R., & Jones, A. P. (1993) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.1993.tb01046.x · Cited by 17
Driven by Social Comparisons: How Feedback about Coworkers’ Effort Influences Individual ProductivityPreprint
Francesca Gino, B., & Staats, B. R. (2011) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.1755051 · Cited by 17
Agents' moral character shapes people's moral evaluations of accidental harm transgressionsPreprint
Schwartz, F., Djeriouat, H., & Trémolière, B. (2021) · PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2022.104378 · Cited by 17
Member-to-member generalisation in trust behaviour: How do prior experiences inform prosocial behaviour towards novel ingroup and outgroup members?
Vermue, M., Meleady, R., & Seger, C. R. (2019) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-019-00289-8 · Cited by 16
“Negativity biases indicate that in general, people are more sensitive to negative than positive information (Baumeister et al. 2001; Rozin and Royzman 2001; Skowronski and Carlston 1989).”
Background
How is CSR scepticism amplified? Effects of corporate social irresponsibility and perceived controversy in the casino industry
Choi, S., Kim, I., Kim, J. J., & Hwang, J. (2023) · Current Issues in Tourism · doi:10.1080/13683500.2023.2245532 · Cited by 16
“According to Skowronski and Carlston (1989), a negative behaviour is deemed as more informative in making inferences about one ’ s dispositional attributes than positive behaviour when it comes to one ’ s morality.”

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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