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Futures in Theory

Bottom-up and top-down information determinants of naturalistic trait impression updating

Mark Thornton
Dartmouth University

Perceptions of a communicator profoundly impact how people will engage with that person’s message, and conversely the content that someone communicates, and how they communicate it, alter how people perceive the communicator. This working group will discuss novel approaches to integrating the study of person perception and communication. Specific questions include: 1) What are the most useful theoretical frameworks for linking perceptions of messengers with perceptions of their messages? 2) How do medium and message come together to shape perceptions of a person? Which has the bigger influence, and when? 3) How can nascent methodological approaches facilitate more naturalistic, multimodal research at the intersection of person perception and communication? Our goal is to synthesize the best existing approaches to this topic, identify clear gaps or problems in the literature, and set forth a compelling research agenda that the field can follow to address these issues.