Social Psychology as Science or History: An Experimental Approach
- 1 August 1986
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in The Journal of Social Psychology
- Vol. 126 (4) , 431-435
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1986.9713609
Abstract
The hypothesis that social psychological findings reflect the discipline's historical boundaries rather than scientific laws was tested in an experiment using the phenomenon known as the halo effect. Subjects (N = 61) were divided into four groups, each of which evaluated a stimulus person presented on videotape. The conditions varied were: (a) description of the person to be evaluated; (b) education about the halo effect; and (c) interference. Results indicated that the halo effect could be eliminated by educating the subject about the influence global evaluations have on subsequent individual evaluations. Contrary to expectations, however, education did not eliminate the halo effect when a distracting task was given subsequent to information about the halo effect.This publication has 8 references indexed in Scilit:
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