Hypothesis-testing processes in social interaction
Snyder and Swann report four investigations in which participants were given hypotheses about the personal attributes of target individuals. Female undergraduates were told a target was an extravert or an introvert and chose questions for an upcoming interview; they planned to test the hypothesis by preferentially searching for behavioural evidence that would confirm it. The abstract reports that the question-selection strategies shaped the interactions so that targets displayed behaviour confirming the hypotheses, and adds a theoretical analysis of the processes behind the confirmation-seeking search and its interpersonal consequences.
Snyder and Swann report four investigations in which participants were given hypotheses about the personal attributes of target individuals. Female undergraduates were told a target was an extravert or an introvert and chose questions for an upcoming interview; they planned to test the hypothesis by preferentially searching for behavioural evidence that would confirm it. The abstract reports that the question-selection strategies shaped the interactions so that targets displayed behaviour confirming the hypotheses, and adds a theoretical analysis of the processes behind the confirmation-seeking search and its interpersonal consequences.
Written from the abstract, University of Minnesota research portal record, 2026-10-31.
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Snyder, M., & Swann, W. B. (1978). Hypothesis-testing processes in social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(11), 1202-1212. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.36.11.1202 https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.36.11.1202