The Spontaneous Trait Inference and Transference Phenomena: What are their meanings, where are they coming from, and where are they going to?

Abstract

Spontaneous Trait Inferences (STI), occur when, after being exposed to a trait implying behaviour, observers infer a trait about the actor of the behavior, without intention or  awareness (Winter & Uleman, 1984). Recently, the phenomenon of Spontaneous Trait Transferences (STT), has shown that implied traits can also became attached to subjects other than the actor, such as the person who delivered the message. Detecting the STT effect shed a new light on the conception of STIs. Namely, while some authors defined STIs as an inferential process, that differed from the one underlying STTs, which would be associative, other authors suggested that both effects would be dependent on the same associative processes. This paper will focus on the research that has been conducted in the STI and the STT field, aiming to provide a critical exposition of the debate concerning the two offered explanations, and proposing new empirical directions for solving them.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17575/rpsicol.v28i1.624