On being judged by the company you keep: The effects of group consensus and target behavior on impressions of individual group members

Three studies were conducted to examine how trait judgments of target individuals are affected by the number of others in their groups who perform trait-implying behaviors that the targets do or do not engage in themselves. Hypotheses were advanced based on associative transference, perceived similarity, discounting, social comparison, and memory confusion. Results of the studies indicate that judgments of targets were systematically affected by the number of other group members who engaged in a trait-implying behavior, but that these effects differed depending on whether the target also engaged in the behavior. Assimilation occurred for targets who did not actually engage in a trait-implying behavior, in that they were perceived as having more of the implied trait as the number of other group members performing that behavior increased. However contrast, rather than assimilation, occurred for targets who did engage in the behavior, in that they were perceived as having less of the implied trait as the number of other group members performing the behavior increased. Follow-up analyses indicate that these effects were partially, but not entirely, mediated by memory confusion, with transference and perhaps discounting also theorized to play roles.