Impression Formation, Discrepancy from Stereotype, and Recognition Memory 1

The background for the research in this chapter includes an interest in the “prepared mind” (Hyman, 1961, 1964a). Under what conditions, for example, do preconceptions and prior knowledge about a problem interfere with the restructuring necessary to achieve a solution and under what conditions do they help? A particular form of this question is concerned with the role of discrepancy from prototypes in guiding the course of inquiry and contributing to the growth of knowledge (Brunswik, 1959; Gombrich, 1961; Hyman, 1964b; Kuhn, 1962;Mischel, 1971).