ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the way in which individuals generate personality impressions of people whose behavior they have observed. Several different measurement procedures have been employed to determine the location of individuals on personality dimensions. The fact that self- and other-person-reports are frequently used as personality measurement devices is of considerable importance given that personality theories emphasize the behavior of individuals and not the processes by which raters construct their responses to questionnaires. Evidence for the scientific utility of trait and other similar personality constructs have come primarily from two somewhat different methodologies, both of which are based on the correlation between different measures of one or more traits. Alternatively, research that has examined the rating process does suggest tentative conclusions for these issues. Much of the recent surge of interest among social psychologists in cognitive processes has been focused on encoding and retention processes.
