Motivational factors in social judgment were neglected then rediscovered after Allport

Evidence

Allport stressed the role of meaning construction in social perceptions as well, noting that both cognitive and motivational factors determine people’s interpretation of the social environment. After Allport, cognitively oriented social psychologists long concentrated on the former aspects and compared people’s cognitive performance to so-called objective accounts of the surrounding world (Hamilton & Trolier, 1986). More recently, the role of motivation in social judgment has very much been rediscovered. Nowadays, most students of stereotyping and prejudice would agree that reality constraints (i.e., the light without) and integrity concerns (i.e., the light within) both shape social judgment (Leyens, Yzerbyt, & Schadron, 1992, 1994). — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1147