Two studies investigated how information on personality traits influences competence impressions. According to common definitions, personality traits concern people’s typical patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors, whereas competence concerns a set of behaviors that provides successful outcomes. Although these are separate aspects of individual differences, will people be inclined to draw inferences about someone’s competence based on information about their personality traits? Study 1 (N = 120) showed that describing persons as high on extraversion, openness or emotional stability elicits higher competence evaluations than for persons described as average on these traits. Study 2 (N = 120) had the same design and showed that persons described as low on the traits were rated as less competent. The results showed that in addition to transfer effects from traits to “matching” competence domains (e.g. from openness to innovation competence) transfer effects were also found in “non-matching” competence domains (e.g. from openness to emotional resilience competence and social engagement competence). The findings demonstrate a new form of halo bias, where people go beyond the information given when making competence judgments. These outcomes enhance theoretical insights on the formation of impressions about others and may also have practical applications, such as understanding how recruiters might misjudge a candidate’s competence based on their personality traits.

Authors:
Oyvind Jorgensen, Kristianstad University, Sweden
Fredrik Björklund, Lund University, Sweden
Martin Bäckström, Lund University, Sweden

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Oyvind Jorgensen is currently an Assistant Professor at Kristianstad University in Sweden. His general research interests are social psychology and personality psychology. In a current project he explores how personality information influences im

See this presentation on the full schedule – Friday Schedule

Bookmark