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Abstract
Two experiments investigated whether scores on the Role Category Questionnaire (RCQ) predict the amount of psychological knowledge activated about others. The amount of knowledge activated about a known peer was operationalized as mean reaction time to decide whether 32 traits described the peer. In Experiment 1, RCQ scores predicted the knowledge activated about peers described on the RCQ, an additional well‐known peer and an unknown peer. The main effect for RCQ scores did not reach significance in Experiment 2 where respondents thought about peers different from those described on the RCQ. A meta‐analytic comparison of the results of the two experiments suggested that RCQ scores significantly predict the amount of conceptual psychological knowledge activated about others. Also hypothesized was that persons with higher RCQ scores possess richer trait schemas and differentiate more between similar traits. The former hypothesis was supported, while the latter received only partial support.
