Inducing Self-Perceptions: The Role of Social Interaction

Fazio, Effrein, and Falender (1981) showed that asking subjects questions designed to elicit information primarily about introverted or extraverted life events results in shifts in self-perceptions and social behavior in the direction of the type of question asked. Thepresent study examined the durability of this effect with regard to self-perceptions. Subjects were randomly selected to answer either introverted or extraverted questions and to interact with a confederate trained to act in either an introverted or extraverted manner. A main effect of question type was found on subjects' self-perception of introversion-extraversion both before and after interaction with the confederate. In addition, changes in self-perception were found to be influenced by confederate type.