Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-hvd4g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-27T16:02:17.981Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Accuracy in Person Perception

from Part I - Foundational Issues: History and Approaches to Personality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2020

By
Jeremy C. Biesanz  and
Jessica D. Wallace
Edited by
Philip J. Corr  and
Gerald Matthews
Philip J. Corr
Affiliation:
City, University London
Gerald Matthews
Affiliation:
University of Central Florida
Get access

Summary

When noticing the people we pass on the street, chatting briefly with someone in line behind us at a cafe, or engaging in any other brief social interaction with a person that we may never meet again, we naturally form impressions of their personality and characteristics. In other situations, as when meeting new coworkers, interviewers and potential romantic partners, our desire to form accurate impressions may be quite conscious and deliberate.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology , pp. 44 - 55
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alaei, R., & Rule, N. O. (2016). Accuracy of perceiving social attributes. In Hall, J. A., Mast, M. S. & West, T. V. (Eds.), The social psychology of perceiving others accurately (pp. 125–142). Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allport, G. W. (1937). Personality: A psychological interpretation. Oxford,UK: Holt.Google Scholar
Allport, G. W., & Odbert, H. S. (1936). Trait-names: A psycho-lexical study. Psychological Monographs, 47, i–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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.Google Scholar
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.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asch, S. E. (1946). Forming impressions of personality. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 41, 258–290.Google Scholar
Biesanz, J. C. (2010). The social accuracy model of interpersonal perception: Assessing individual differences in perceptive and expressive accuracy. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 45, 853–885.Google Scholar
Biesanz, J. C., & West, S. G. (2000). Personality coherence: Moderating self–other profile agreement and profile consensus. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 425–437.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Biesanz, J. C., West, S. G., & Millevoi, A. (2007). What do you learn about someone over time? The relationship between length of acquaintance and consensus and self-other agreement in judgments of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 119–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, C. F., & DePaulo, B. M. (2006). Accuracy of deception judgments. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 214–234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borkenau, P., & Liebler, A. (1992). Trait inferences: Sources of validity at zero acquaintance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 645–657.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borkenau, P., & Liebler, A. (1993). Convergence of stranger ratings of personality and intelligence with self-ratings, partner ratings, and measured intelligence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 546–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borkenau, P., Mauer, N., Riemann, R., Spinath, F. M., & Angleitner, A. (2004). Thin slices of behavior as cues of personality and intelligence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 599–614.Google Scholar
Borkenau, P., Mosch, A., Tandler, N., & Wolf, A. (2016). Accuracy of judgments of personality based on textual information on major life domains. Journal of Personality, 84, 214–224.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brunswik, E. (1956). Perception and the representative design of psychological experiments. Berkley, CA: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buffardi, L. E., & Campbell, W. K. (2008). Narcissism and social networking web sites. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1303–1314.Google Scholar
Buller, D. B., Strzyzewski, K. D., & Hunsaker, F. G. (1991). Interpersonal deception: II. The inferiority of conversational participants as deception detectors. Communication Monographs, 58, 25–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burgoon, J. K., Buller, D. B., Floyd, K., & Grandpre, J. (1996). Deceptive realities: Communication Research, 23, 724–748.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burgoon, J. K., & Dunbar, N. E. (2016). Accuracy of distinguishing truth from lie. In Hall, J. A., Mast, M. S. & West, T. V. (Eds.), The social psychology of perceiving others accurately (pp. 71–97). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Carahaly, L. (2000). Listener accuracy in identifying the sexual orientation of male and female speakers. (Master’s thesis, Ohio State University.)Google Scholar
Chung, Y. S., Barch, D., & Strube, M. (2013). A meta-analysis of mentalizing impairments in adults with schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 40, 602–616.Google Scholar
Conley, J. J. (1985). Longitudinal stability of personality traits: A multitrait–multimethod–multioccasion analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 1266–1282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cronbach, L. J. (1955). Processes affecting scores on “understanding of others” and “assumed similarity.” Psychological Bulletin, 52, 177–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elfenbein, H. A., & Ambady, N. (2002). On the universality and cultural specificity of emotion recognition: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 203–235.Google Scholar
Elfenbein, H. A., Foo, M. D., White, J., Tan, H. H., & Aik, V. C. (2007). Reading your counterpart: The benefit of emotion recognition accuracy for effectiveness in negotiation. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 31, 205–223.Google Scholar
Emmons, R. A. (1995). Levels and domains in personality: An introduction. Journal of Personality, 63, 341–364.Google Scholar
Epstein, S. (1983). Aggregation and beyond: Some basic issues on the prediction of behavior. Journal of Personality, 51, 360–392.Google Scholar
Fleeson, W. (2001). Toward a structure- and process-integrated view of personality: Traits as density distributions of states. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 1011–1027.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Funder, D. C. (1995). On the accuracy of personality judgment: A realistic approach. Psychological Review, 102, 652–670.Google Scholar
Funder, D. C. (1999). Personality judgment: A realistic approach to person perception. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Funder, D. C., & Ozer, D. J. (1983). Behavior as a function of the situation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 107–112.Google Scholar
Furr, R. M. (2008). Framework for profile similarity: Integrating similarity, normativeness, and distinctiveness. Journal of Personality, 76, 1267–1316.Google Scholar
Galton, F. (1884). Measurement of character. Fortnightly Review, 36, 179–185.Google Scholar
Gangestad, S. W., Simpson, J. A., DiGeronimo, K., & Biek, M. (1992). Differential accuracy in person perception across traits: Examination of a functional hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 688–698.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gillath, O., Bahns, A. J., Ge, F., & Crandall, C. S. (2012). Shoes as a source of first impressions. Journal of Research in Personality, 46, 423–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, L. R. (1993). The structure of phenotypic personality traits. American Psychologist, 48, 26–34.Google Scholar
Gosling, S. D., Ko, S. J., Mannarelli, T., & Morris, M. E. (2002). A room with a cue: Personality judgments based on offices and bedrooms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 379–398.Google Scholar
Guion, R. M., & Gottier, R. F. (1965). Validity of personality measures in personnel selection. Personnel Psychology, 18, 135–164.Google Scholar
Hall, J. A., Mast, M. S., & West, T. (2016). Accurate interpersonal perception: Many traditions, one topic. In Hall, J. A., Mast, M. S. & West, T. (Eds.), The social psychology of perceiving others accurately (pp. 3–22). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartwig, M., & Bond, C. F. (2011). Why do lie-catchers fail? A lens model meta-analysis of human lie judgments. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 643–659.Google Scholar
Hirschmüller, S., Egloff, B., Nestler, S., & Back, M. D. (2013). The dual lens model: A comprehensive framework for understanding self–other agreement of personality judgments at zero acquaintance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104, 335–353.Google Scholar
Human, L. J., & Biesanz, J. C. (2013). Targeting the good target an integrative review of the characteristics and consequences of being accurately perceived. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 17, 248–272.Google Scholar
Human, L. J., Biesanz, J. C., Parisotto, K. L., & Dunn, E. W. (2012). Your best self helps reveal your true self: Positive self-presentation leads to more accurate personality impressions. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3, 23–30.Google Scholar
Ickes, W. (Ed.) (1997). Empathic accuracy. New York : Guilford Publications.Google Scholar
Ickes, W. (2001). Measuring empathic accuracy. In Hall, J. A. & Bernieri, F. J. (Eds.), The LEA series in personality and clinical psychology. Interpersonal sensitivity: Theory and measurement (pp. 219–241). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
James, W. (1897). The will to believe: And other essays in popular philosophy. New York: Longmans, Green and Company.Google Scholar
John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In Pervin, L. A. & John, O. P. (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (Vol. 2, pp. 102–138). New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Kaminski, G., Ravary, F., Graff, C., & Gentaz, E. (2010). Firstborns’ disadvantage in kinship detection. Psychological Science, 21, 1746–1750.Google Scholar
Kenny, D. A. (1994). Interpersonal perception: A social relations analysis. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Kenny, D. A., West, T. V., Cillessen, A. H. N., Coie, J. D., Dodge, K. A., Hubbard, J. A., & Schwartz, D. (2007). Accuracy in judgments of aggressiveness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1225–1236.Google Scholar
Kenny, D. A., West, T. V., Malloy, T. E., & Albright, L. (2006). Componential analysis of interpersonal perception data. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 282–294.Google Scholar
Kenrick, D. T., & Funder, D. C. (1988). Profiting from controversy: Lessons from the person- situation debate. American Psychologist, 43, 23–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kenrick, D. T., Neuberg, S. L., Griskevicius, V., Becker, D. V., & Schaller, M. (2010). Goal-driven cognition and functional behavior. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 63–67.Google Scholar
Kilianski, S. E. (2008). Who do you think I think I am? Accuracy in perceptions of others’ self-esteem. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 386–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macrae, C. N., & Martin, D. (2006). A boy primed Sue: Feature-based processing and person construal. European Journal of Social Psychology, 37, 793–805.Google Scholar
Mast, M. S., & Ickes, W. (2007). Empathic accuracy: Measurement and potential clinical applications. In Farrow, T. F. D. & Woodruff, P. W. R. (Eds.), Empathy in mental illness (pp. 408–427). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
McAdams, D. P. (1995). What do we know when we know a person? Journal of Personality, 63, 365–396.Google Scholar
McArthur, L. Z., & Baron, R. M. (1983). Toward an ecological theory of social perception. Psychological Review, 90, 215–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mischel, W. (1968). Personality and assessment. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Moskowitz, D. S., & Schwarz, J. C. (1982). Validity comparison of behavior counts and ratings by knowledgeable informants. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 518–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, N. A., Hall, J. A., & Colvin, C. R. (2003). Accurate intelligence assessments in social interactions: Mediators and gender effects. Journal of Personality, 71, 465–493.Google Scholar
Naumann, L. P., Vazire, S., Rentfrow, P. J., & Gosling, S. D. (2009). Personality judgments based on physical appearance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1661–1671.Google Scholar
Nave, G., Minxha, J., Greenberg, D. M., Kosinski, M., Stillwell, D., & Rentfrow, J. (2018). Musical preferences predict personality: Evidence from active listening and Facebook likes. Psychological Science, 29, 1145–1158.Google Scholar
Neel, R., Kenrick, D. T., White, A. E., & Neuberg, S. L. (2016). Individual differences in fundamental social motives. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 110, 887–907.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nestler, S., & Back, M. D. (2013). Applications and extensions of the lens model to understand interpersonal judgments at zero acquaintance. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22, 374–379.Google Scholar
Nestler, S., Egloff, B., Kufner, A. C. P., & Back, M. D. (2012). An integrative lens model approach to bias and accuracy in human inferences: Hindsight effects and knowledge updating in personality judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103, 689–717.Google Scholar
Park, G., Schwartz, H. A., Eichstaedt, J. C., Kern, M. L., Kosinski, M., Stillwell, D. J., … Seligman, M. E. P. (2015). Automatic personality assessment through social media language. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108, 934–952.Google Scholar
Rogers, K. H., & Biesanz, J. C. (2015). Knowing versus liking: Separating normative knowledge from social desirability in first impressions of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109, 1105–1116.Google Scholar
Rogers, K. H., & Biesanz, J. C. (2018). Reassessing the good judge of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1–15.Google Scholar
Saucier, G., & Goldberg, L. R. (1996). The language of personality: Lexical perspectives on the five-factor model. In Wiggins, J. S. (Ed.), The Five-Factor Model of personality: Theoretical perspectives (pp. 21–50). New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Shuman, V., Clark-Polner, E., Meuleman, B., Sander, D., & Scherer, K. R. (2015). Emotion perception from a componential perspective. Cognition and Emotion, 31, 47–56.Google Scholar
Skowron, M., Tkalčič, M., Ferwerda, B., & Schedl, M. (2016). Fusing social media cues. In Proceedings of the 25th international conference companion on world wide web – WWW’16 companion. ACM Press.Google Scholar
Stinson, L., & Ickes, W. (1992). Empathic accuracy in the interactions of male friends versus male strangers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 787–797.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sunnafrank, M., & Ramirez, A. (2004). At first sight: Persistent relational effects of get- acquainted conversations. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 21, 361–379.Google Scholar
Tagiuri, R., & Petrullo, L. (Eds.) (1958). Person perception and interpersonal behavior. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Tskhay, K. O., & Rule, N. O. (2014). Perceptions of personality in text-based media and OSN: A meta-analysis. Journal of Research in Personality, 49, 25–30.Google Scholar
Vazire, S. (2010). Who knows what about a person? The self–other knowledge asymmetry (SOKA) model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 281–300.Google Scholar
Wessels, N. M., Zimmermann, J., Biesanz, J. C., & Leising, D. (2020). Differential associations of knowing and liking with accuracy and positivity bias in person perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 118, 149–171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wiggins, J. (Ed.) (1996). The Five-Factor Model of personality: Theoretical perspectives. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Zaki, J., Bolger, N., & Ochsner, K. (2008). It takes two: The interpersonal nature of empathic accuracy. Psychological Science, 19, 399–404.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×