ABSTRACT
In the early stages of a social event, the person not only records and reconstructs the information received, but responds emotionally as weIl to the stimuli of which that situation is composed. Although the person must apprehend a situation before responding to it emotionally, it is difficult to describe a precise point at which person perception ends and interpersonal attraction begins. Clearly, both processes help determine the person's readiness to respond and so both contribute directly to the more formally organized modes of social interaction. This chapter completes the discussion of the initial structuring of social behavior with an examinat ion of what is known about the mechanisms through which personality factors affect our evaluative responses of others.
