Professor Carlston is the 2010-2011 President of the Midwestern Psychological Association, past editor of the journal of Social Cognition, and current organizer of the Annual Invitational Duck Conference on Social Cognition.

Professor Carlston has primary research interests in person perception, impression formation and social cognition. The current focus of this work is on the origin, organization and use of different kinds of mental representations of people and events. Representative issues include the factors affecting spontaneous trait inference and categorization and reliance on self-referent vs. other-referent information in impressions of the self or of others.

Primary Interests:

Interpersonal Processes
Person Perception
Self and Identity
Social Cognition

Interpersonal Processes
Person Perception

Self and Identity
Social Cognition

Research Group or Laboratory:

Carlston Social Cognition Laboratory
Interactive Map

Journal Articles:

Carlston, D. E., & Mae, L. (2007). Posing with the flag: Trait-specific effects of symbols on person perception. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 43, 241-248.
Carlston, D. E., & Skowronski, J. J. (2005). Linking versus thinking: Evidence for the different associative and attributional bases of spontaneous trait transference and spontaneous trait inference. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 884-898.
Claypool, H., & Carlston, D. E. (2002). Strategic system interference: An associated-systems approach to impressions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 425-433.
Mae, L., & Carlston, D. E. (2005). Boomerang effects of bigoted speech. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41, 240-255.
Mae, L., Carlston, D. E., & Skowronski, J. J. (1999). Spontaneous trait transference to familiar communicators: Is a little knowledge a dangerous thing? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 233-246.
Skowronski, J. J., Carlston, D. E., Mae, L., & Crawford, M. T. (1998). Spontaneous trait transference: communicators take on the qualities they describe in others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 837-848.

Other Publications:

Carlston, D. E. (1994). Associated Systems Theory: A systematic approach to the cognitive representation of persons and events. In R. S. Wyer (Ed.), Advances in Social Cognition, Vol. 7: Associated Systems Theory (pp. 1-78). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Carlston, D. E., & Mae, L. (2003). The accidental tourist: Capturing incidental (versus intentional) impressions. In G. V. Bodenhausen & A. J. Lambert (Eds.), Foundations of Social Cognition: A Festschrift in Honor of Robert S. Wyer, Jr. Mahwah; NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum & Associates.
Carlston, D. E., & Smith, E. R. (1996). Principles of mental representation. In E. T. Higgins & A. W. Kruglanski (Eds.), Social Psychology: Handbook of Basic Principles (pp. 194-210). New York: Guilford Press.
Linville, P., & Carlston, D. E. (1994). Social cognition of the self. In P. G. Devine, D. L. Hamilton, & T. M. Ostrom (Eds.), Social Cognition: Impact on Social Psychology (pp. 143-193). San Diego: Academic Press.
Skowronski, J. J., Carlston, D. E., & Hartnett, J. (2008). Spontaneous impressions derived from observations of behavior: What a long, strange trip it's been (and it's not over yet). In J. Skowronski & N. Ambady (Eds.), First impressions (pp. 313-333). New York: Guilford Publications.
Wegener, D. T., & Carlston, E. E. (2005). Cognitive processes in attitude formation and change. In D. Albarracín, B. T. Johnson, & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), The handbook of attitudes and attitude change. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Courses Taught:

Introduction to Social Psychology
Social Cognition

Introduction to Social Psychology

Social Cognition

Don Carlston
Department of Psychological Sciences
Psychological Sciences Building, Room 2160
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907-1364
United States

Phone: (765) 494-6899
Fax: (765) 496-1264