Role of contrast pre-stimulus in perception of extremely “positive” and extremely “negative” personality

Abstract

In this study we examined the contrast influence of an extremely negative pre-stimulus on the perception of a “good” personality. We assumed that prior presentation of a strongly negative character makes the perception of a subsequent “good” character even more positive. The current study included 462 students (78% females) aged 20-24 years (M = 20.38; SD = 0.87). The study participants were first asked to complete the Dark Triad personality test and to watch two videos of a male and a female verbally answering the same questions playing the role of a “good” and a “bad” person. Afterwards the participants evaluated the characters based on a specific scale. According to the results, the attitude towards both “good” and “bad” personality is resistant to contrast pre-stimulus effects. However, the pre-stimulus presentation of a non-stereotypical female with pronounced Dark Triad features significantly increased the positive attitude towards subsequent “good” man. The role of gender in the observed effect was not fully clarified, which represents one of the study limitations.