We investigated the effects of familiarity on person perception. We predicted that familiarity would
increase non-analytic processing, reducing attention to and the impact of individuating information,
and increasing the impact of category labels on judgments about a target person. In two studies
participants read either incriminating or exculpatory individuating information about a defendant in a
criminal case and made judgments of guilt. In Study 1, participants were subliminally exposed to the
defendant’s photo, another matched photo, or no photo before seeing the evidence. Participants
familiar with the defendant’s photo both processed and used the individuating information less. In
Study 2, participants were subtly made familiar or not with the incriminating and exculpatory
information itself, and the defendant was described either as a priest or as a skinhead. Familiarity
with the information reduced attention to its content and also tended to increase reliance on category
information in guilt judgments
