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.

Primary Interests:

Attitudes and Beliefs
Person Perception
Persuasion, Social Influence
Research Methods, Assessment
Social Cognition

Attitudes and Beliefs
Person Perception
Persuasion, Social Influence

Research Methods, Assessment
Social Cognition

Books:

Bassili, J. N. (Ed.). (1989). On-line cognition in person perception. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Journal Articles:

Bassili, J. N. (2003). The minority slowness effect: Subtle inhibitions in the expression of views not shared by others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 261-276.
Bassili, J. N. (2000). Reflections on response latency measurement in telephone surveys. Introductory article as guest editor of a special issue on response latency in survey research. Political Psychology, 21, 1-6.
Bassili, J. N. (1996). Meta-judgmental versus operative indices of psychological properties: The case of measures of attitude strength. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 637-653.
Bassili, J. N. (1995). On the psychological reality of party identification: Evidence from the accessibility of voting intentions and of partisan feelings. Political Behavior, 17, 339-358.
Bassili, J. N. (1995). Response latency and the accessibility of voting intentions: What contributes to accessibility and how it affects vote choice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 686-695.
Bassili, J. N. (1993). Procedural efficiency and the spontaneity of trait inference. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 199-204.
Bassili, J. N., & Fletcher, J. F. (1991). Response-time measurement in survey research: A method for CATI and a new look at non-attitudes. Public Opinion Quarterly, 55, 331-346.
Bassili, J. N., & Racine, J. P. (1991) On the process relationship between person and situation judgments in attribution. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 881-890.
Bassili, J. N., & Roy, J-P (1998). On the representation of strong and weak attitudes about policy in memory. Political Psychology, 19, 669-681.
Bassili, J. N., Smith, M. C., & MacLeod, C. M. (1989). Presentation modality and type of processing effects on priming in auditory and visual word-stem completion. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Experimental Psychology, 41A, 439-453.
Brown, R. D., & Bassili, J. N. (2002). Spontaneous trait associations and the case of the superstitious banana. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 87-92.

Other Publications:

Bassili, J. N., & Brown, R. (2005). Implicit and explicit attitudes: Research, challenges and theory. In D. Albarracín, B. T. Johnson, & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), Handbook of Attitudes and Attitude Change. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Courses Taught:

Introduction to Social Psychology
Introductory Psychology
Social Psychology Laboratory

Introduction to Social Psychology
Introductory Psychology

Social Psychology Laboratory

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John Bassili
Department of Psychology
University of Toronto Scarborough
1265 Military Trail
Toronto, ON M1C 1A4
Canada

Phone: (416) 287-7415
Fax: (416) 287-7642
Email: bassili@utsc.utoronto.ca