Perceived motivation, role variations, and the attribution of personal characteristics

Abstract

Abstract An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that the information value of a stimulus person's ( SP ) self-description in a job interview is a joint function of (a) whether or not the description implies that the SP is suitable for the job and (b) whether the SP is seen as wanting either to secure or avoid the job for which he is being interviewed. In all conditions in the study, the SP described himself (on a videotape recording) as an introverted person. Roughly a third of the S s who viewed the tape were told that SP wanted the job badly (high positive motivation). Another third were told that SP wanted the job just to “kill time” (low, positive motivation). The final group were told that SP did not want to be offered the job (negative motivation). Roughly half the S s in each of these three groups were told that the job at stake was that of a fire-spotter (requiring an introverted individual) while the other half were told that this job was that of a sales representative (requiring an extroverted individual). It was predicted that the SP would be judged to be more introverted in the sales than the forestry context when he was seen as wanting the job, but that when he was seen as wanting to avoid the job, he would be viewed as more introverted in the forestry than the sales context. The results strongly supported these predictions as well as the prediction that these attribution effects would be mediated by SP' s perceived trustworthiness.