This study examines the effects of social roles, types of action, and concrete situations on people's conceptions of others. In this study, 180 college students were given questionnaires containing short descriptions of interactions between an adult and an adolescent boy. These questionnaires were designed to examine the effects of two role sets (female-male and employer-parent), two types of action (task-oriented or expressing emotion) and several concrete situations on three dependent variables: (a) predicted behavior for the adult in each hypothetical situation, (b) selection of most relevant attributes of the adult's personality, and (c) ratings of the adults on several personality attributes. Adults were depicted as employers or parents of the boy, and their actions were either task-oriented or expressively affective. Students were asked to predict the adults' behavior in certain situations, and to identify personal characteristics of the adults in situations where their behavior was already described. Characteristics included terms such as "businesslike" and "loyal and supportive." Results showed that predictions of behavior are strongly influenced by the parent-employer role set, but not by the sex of the hypothetical adult. Personality ratings are determined primarily by actions, not by role. (Author/AV)