Lateral asymmetry of impression formation

Abstract

On the premise that the more complex functions are those which are more asymmetrically represented in the human brain, it was suggested that it would be possible to measure differences in the impression formed of another person as a function of the relative activation of the cerebral hemispheres. Selective activation was manipulated by the induction of lateral orientation of attention. A pilot study produced the predicted significant results: A more positive impression was formed by right handers whose right hemisphere was activated by leftward attentional orientation. This effect was replicated in the main experiment. These findings support previous research which showed that attention to the self is increased with relative left hemisphere activation while attention to external stimuli is enhanced during a relative right hemisphere pattern of activation.