Age differences in the types of processing associated with impression change were examined. Young, middle-aged, and older adults formed an impression of a target based on a short vignette that described either positive or negative characteristics in 1 of 2 domains (ability vs. morality). Impression change was examined after presentation of additional behavioral information that was inconsistent with the original vignette. Replicating previous findings, younger adults changed their impressions in response to the consistency of the new information with the initial target description. In contrast, impression change in the 2 older groups was based on the trait diagnosticity of the original and new information, suggesting greater use of inferential, knowledge-based processing with age. The results indicate that qualitative differences exist in impression change processes, with different-aged individuals considering different types of information when constructing and updating social representations.

Two experiments investigated adult age differences in the impact of previously activated (and thus easily accessible) trait-related information on judgments about people. The authors hypothesized that age-related declines in the efficiency of controlled processing mechanisms during adulthood would be associated with increased susceptibility to judgment biases associated with such information. In each study, different-aged adults made impression judgments about a target, and assimilation of these judgments to trait constructs activated in a previous, unrelated task were examined. Consistent with the authors' hypotheses, older adults were likely to form impressions that were biased toward the primed trait constructs. In contrast, younger adults exhibited greater awareness of the primed information and were more likely to correct for its perceived influence, especially when distinctive contextual cues regarding the source of the primes were available.

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This monograph provides a top-down, elite political narrative history centered on the career and legacy of Mikhail Nikolaevich Murav'ev, governor-general of the Northwestern Krai (present-day Lithuania and part of Belarus), who was summoned to reassert Russian control after die Polish uprising of 1863. The introduction offers a brief but diorough review of die historiography of Russian imperial policy toward die western provinces and Poland, for which "Russification" is often a catchall term. A. A. Komzolova is well read in recent scholarship, bodi eastern and western, and draws upon numerous memoir sources and archival collections in Russia and Vil'na. After a short chapter on Murav'ev's predecessor, Governor-General A. A. Nazimov (1855A. Nazimov ( -1863, two long chapters constituting the bulk of die book examine, first, Murav'ev's ascent to the governor-generalship and twoyear tenure at diis post, and second, die legacy of his policies under die administration of his successors. A very short conclusion sums up. It is a handsome volume, widi a colored imperial Russian crest on die front cover, diirty illustrations widiin, and a Polish seal on die back. Supportive materials are abundant by die standards of most Russian and even western academic publishing: die index of names includes brief biographical summaries; die bibliography divides entries into six different categories of primary and secondary sources; and a chronology lists die governors-general and governors of die western provinces.What die chapters lack in proportion, diey make up for in substantive documentary investigation. The audior sustains a comprehensive narrative of die machinations widiin die highest circles of power and of die disputes over policy decisions to undermine die Polish nobility by strengdiening dieir peasants' identification widi Russia socially, economically, and religiously. The main debate separated members of die "western committee" of high government personages into two camps: die "Russian party" or "ultrapatriots" backing Murav'ev against Polish interests, and die "cosmopolitans" led by Minister of Interior Petr Aleksandrovich Valuev, seeking to enlist the landlords' support through cooperation. Anodier of die audior's concerns is to unpack die metaphoric "Murav'ev system" to reveal a nonsystematic series of variably effective measures around a generally consistent set of goals.The topic of study is die inner circle of imperial power, and diis investigation proceeds from diat vantage point. The account may strike readers as more sympadietic or nuanced toward Murav'ev than diey would expect, considering his brutal reputation. Komzolova suggests diat much non-Russian scholarship on Murav'ev comes widi a pro-Polish slant. This work assumes diat Murav'ev was an imperial administrator charged widi certain duties, who performed diose duties as he saw fit, widi a mixed record of success. This toplevel administrative perspective on die Russian reaction to 1863 merits understanding, but isolating diis facet of a many-sided event may ...