Dr. John Bassili

RESEARCH

John Bassili's research focuses on the cognitive processes that underlie social judgments. One area of special interest is attitudes and attitude strength. His recent theorizing has proposed that rather than being stored summary evaluations, attitudes are temporary constructions reflecting the activity of microconceptual networks that are potentiated by contextually situated objects, goals, and task demands. He has similarly theorized about person perception processes. His recent research deals with how cognitive processes affect responses in opinion surveys and the mechanism responsible for attitude malleability. In the area of person perception, he has explored processes of spontaneous trait inference and transference. A recent involvement in Web-based educational technology has generated a number of studies on factors responsible for media choice.