Behavior Speaks Louder than Traits

Abstract

The impact of message abstractness on recipients is controversial. Research on person perception suggests that abstract messages are more influential, whereas research on communication and its outcomes suggests that concrete, vivid communication has greater impact. It was predicted that the latter also applies to the domain of person perception if the message contains unexpected (i.e., stereotype inconsistent) information. This prediction was tested experimentally. It was found that a message about a target person with unexpected content exerts more influence when it is concrete than when it is abstract. This effect generalized across different sources of communication (mass media and interpersonal communication). In line with earlier findings, messages from the media had a somewhat stronger effect than interpersonal communication. Implications for optimal message composition for the communication of knowledge about people are discussed.