Perceivers are both accurate and biased in their understanding of others. Past research has distinguished between three types of accuracy: generalized accuracy, a perceiver's accuracy about how a target interacts with others in general; perceiver accuracy, a perceiver's view of others corresponding with how the perceiver is treated by others in general; and dyadic accuracy, a perceiver's accuracy about a target when interacting with that target. Researchers have proposed that there should be more dyadic than other forms of accuracy among well-acquainted individuals because of the pragmatic utility of forecasting the behavior of interaction partners. We examined behavioral aggression among well-acquainted peers. A total of 116 9-year-old boys rated how aggressive their classmates were toward other classmates. Subsequently, 11 groups of 6 boys each interacted in play groups, during which observations of aggression were made. Analyses indicated strong generalized accuracy yet little dyadic and perceiver accuracy.
Albright, L., Kenny, D.A., & Malloy, T.E. (1988). Consensus in personality judgments at zero acquaintance . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 387-395.
2.
Ambady, N., Hallahan, M., & Conner, B. (1999). Accuracy of judgments of sexual orientation from thin slices of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 538-547.
3.
Ambady, N., & Rosenthal, R. (1992). Thin slices of expressive behavior as predictors of interpersonal consequences: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 256-274.
4.
Ambady, N., & Rosenthal, R. (1993). Half a minute: Predicting teacher evaluations from thin slices of nonverbal behavior and physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 431-441.
5.
Ashmore, R.D., & Del Boca, F.K. (1981). Conceptual approaches to stereotypes and stereotyping. In D. L. Hamilton (Ed.), Cognitive processes in stereotyping and intergroup behavior (pp. 1-35). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
6.
Bodenhausen, G.V., & Lichtenstein, M. (1987). Social stereotypes and information processes strategies: The impact of task complexity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 871-880.
7.
Cillessen, A.H.N. (2006). Children's triadic judgments of aggression: A social relations analysis. Unpublished manuscript, University of Connecticut—Storrs.
8.
Coie, J.D., Cillessen, A.H.N., Dodge, K.A., Hubbard, J.A., Schwartz, D., Lemerise, E.A., et al. (1999). It takes two to fight: A test of relational factors and a method for assessing aggressive dyads. Developmental Psychology, 35, 1179-1188.
9.
Colvin, C.R., & Funder, D.C. (1991). Predicting personality and behavior: A boundary on the acquaintanceship effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 884-894.
10.
Cronbach, L.J. (1955). Processes affecting scores on “understanding of others” and “assumed similarity.” Psychological Bulletin,52, 177-193.
11.
Dawes, R., & Mulford, M. (1966). The false consensus effect and overconfidence: Flaws in judgment or flaws in how we study judgment? Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 65, 201-211.
12.
Dodge, K.A., Pettit, G.S., McClaskey, C.L., & Brown, J.D. (1986). Social competence in children. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 51, 1-85.
13.
Funder, D.C. (1995). On the accuracy of personality judgment: A realistic approach. Psychological Review, 102, 652-670.
14.
Funder, D.C. (1997). The personality puzzle. New York: Norton.
15.
Funder, D.C., & West, S.G. (1993). Consensus, self-other agreement, and accuracy in personality judgment: An introduction. Journal of Personality , 61, 457-476.
16.
Gill, M.J., & Swann, W.B. (2004). On what it means to know someone: A matter of pragmatics. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 405-418.
17.
Harvey, J.H., Town, J.P., & Yarkin, K.L. (1981). How fundamental is the “fundamental error of attribution?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 40, 346-349.
18.
Hoch, S.J. (1987). Perceived consensus and predictive accuracy: The pros and cons of projection. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 221-234.
19.
Hubbard, J.A., Dodge, K.A., Cillessen, A.H.N., Coie, J.D., & Schwartz, D. (2001). The dyadic nature of social information processing in boys' reactive and proactive aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 268-280.
20.
Jones, E.E., & Davis, K.E. (1965). A theory of correspondent inferences: From acts to dispositions. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 219-266). New York: Academic Press.
21.
Kenny, D.A. (1994). Interpersonal perception: A social relations analysis . New York: Guilford.
22.
Kenny, D.A. (2004). PERSON: A general model of interpersonal perception . Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8, 265-280.
23.
Kenny, D.A., & Acitelli, L.K. (2001). Accuracy and bias in the perception of the partner in a close relationship. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 439-448.
24.
Kenny, D.A., & Albright, L. (1987). Accuracy in interpersonal perception: A social relations analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 102, 390-402.
25.
Kenny, D.A., Kieffer, S.C., Smith, J.A., Ceplenski, P., & Kulo, J. (1996). Circumscribed accuracy among well-acquainted individuals . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 32, 1-12.
26.
Kenny, D.A., & La Voie, L. (1984). The social relations model. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 18, pp. 142-182). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
27.
Krueger, J.I., & Funder, D.C. (2004). Towards a balanced social psychology: Causes, consequences and cures for the problem-seeking approach to social behavior and cognition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27, 313-327.
28.
Kruglanski, A.W. (1989). The psychology of being “right”: The problem of accuracy in social perception and cognition. Psychological Bulletin,106, 395-409.
29.
Lee, Y.T., Jussim, L., & McCauley, C. (1995). Stereotype accuracy: Toward appreciating group differences. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
30.
Levesque, M.J., & Kenny, D.A. (1993). Accuracy of behavioral predictions at zero acquaintance: A social relations analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1178-1187.
31.
McArthur (Zebrowitz), L.Z., & Apatow, K. (1983). Impressions of baby-faced adults. Social Cognition, 2, 315-342.
32.
McHenry, R. (1971). New methods of assessing accuracy in person perception . Journal of the Theory of Social Behaviour, 1, 109-119.
33.
Merton, R. (1957). The self-fulfilling prophecy. In R. Merton (Ed.), Social theory and social structure (pp. 421-436). Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
34.
Murray, S.L., Holmes, J.G., & Griffin, D.W. (1996). The benefits of positive illusions: Idealization and the construction of satisfaction in close relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 79-98.
35.
Nasby, W., Hayden, B., & DePaulo, B.M. (1979). Attributional bias among aggressive boys to interpret unambiguous social stimuli as displays of hostility. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 89, 459-468.
36.
Neyer, F.J., & Asendorpf, J.B. (2001). Personality-relationship transaction in young adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 1190-1204.
37.
Rich, M., Woods, E.R., Goodman, E., Emans, S.J., & DuRant, R.H. (1998). Aggressors or victims: Gender and race in music video violence. Pediatrics, 101, 669-674.
38.
SAS Institute. (2006). SAS onlinedoc® (Version 9). Cary, NC: Author.
39.
Schwarz, N. (1994). Judgment in a social context: Biases, shortcomings, and the logic of conversation. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 123-162). San Diego: Academic Press.
40.
Snijders, T.A.B., & Kenny, D.A. (1999). The social relations model for family data: A multilevel approach. Personal Relationships, 6, 471-486.
41.
Swann, W.B. (1984). Quest for accuracy in person perception: A matter of pragmatics. Psychological Review, 91, 457-477. Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1971). Belief in the law of small numbers. Psychological Bulletin, 76, 105-110.
42.
Word, C.O., Zanna, M.P., & Cooper, J. (1974). The nonverbal mediation of self-fulfilling prophecies in interracial interaction. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 10, 109-120.
43.
Zebrowitz, L.A., Andreoletti, C., Collins, M.A., Lee, S.Y., & Blumenthal, J. (1998). Bright, bad, babyfaced boys: Appearance stereotypes do not always yield self-fulfilling prophecy effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1300-1320.
44.
Zebrowitz, L.A., & Collins, M.A. (1997). Accurate social perception at zero acquaintance: The affordances of a Gibsonian approach. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 1, 204-223.
