Sometimes traits are chronically accessible due to past experience.Other times,traits are accessible for more arbitrary reasons,such as what we're currently thinking about.Social psychologists use the term ________ to describe the latter case.

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The term used by social psychologists to describe the arbitrary accessibility of traits due to recent thoughts or experiences is priming. This means that certain traits can become temporarily more accessible and influential in our judgments and behaviors. Alternatively, implicit personality theories are our personal beliefs about which traits tend to go together based on our social experiences, while accessibility refers to the overall ease with which a trait comes to mind due to any reason (past experiences, current thoughts, etc.). Attributions refer to our explanations for the causes of behavior, while social retrieval is not a commonly used term in social psychology.

Sometimes Traits Are Chronically Accessible Due to Past Experience