On the Assumptions That We Make About the World Around Us: A Conceptual Framework for Feature Transformation Effects

Abstract

Various phenomena such as halo effects, spontaneous trait inferences, and evaluative conditioning have in common that assumptions about object features (e.g., whether a person is intelligent or likeable) are influenced by other object features (e.g., whether that person is attractive or co-occurs with other liked persons). Surprisingly, these phenomena have rarely been related to each other, most likely because different phenomena are described using different terms. To overcome this barrier, we put forward a conceptual framework that can be used to describe a wide range of these phenomena. After introducing the four core concepts of the framework, we illustrate how it can be applied to various phenomena. Doing so helps to reveal similarities and differences between those phenomena, thus improving communication and promoting interactions between different areas of research. Finally, we illustrate the generative power of the framework by discussing some of the new research questions that it highlights.