Satisfaction in interpersonal interactions as a function of similarity in level of dysphoria.

This study compared dysphoric and nondysphoric male and female undergraduates as they conversed with dysphoric or nondysphoric undergraduates of the same sex. Subjects rated their satisfaction with the conversation after each turn. The results showed that people in homogeneous dyads (i.e., both partners were dysphoric or both partners were nondysphoric) were most satisfied with the interaction, and their satisfaction increased as the conversation proceeded. People in mixed dyads were less satisfied, perceived each other as colder, and spoke about increasingly negative topics. Thus, in accord with other research showing that similarity leads to liking, the crucial determinant of interactional satisfaction was neither the mood of the subject nor the mood of the partner, but their similarity in mood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality similarity and friendship.

Using the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, "personality similarity or similarity of affect needs and of ways of expressing and receiving affect" was found to be a significant factor in interpersonal attraction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality similarity and friendship: A follow-up study.

This study repeated the procedures of an earlier study (see 35: 2117) that showed similarity of objectively measured (Edwards Personality Preference Schedule) personality characteristics to be a significant correlate of friendship. Experiment I tested the repeatability of this finding with a similar sample (college freshmen) and the results again supported the similarity principle. Experiment II tested the generalizability of the earlier finding. The procedures were applied to a different population (college seniors), and the results failed to confirm the similarity hypothesis. Personality differences between freshmen and seniors can be viewed as a function of increased social and emotional maturity on the part of seniors (Izard, 1962). Perhaps the more "mature" person has less need to see his personality characteristics reflected in his friends. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generalization of interpersonal similarity.

Ss were led to believe that their preferences (among eight pairs of tunes) were similar to those of 1 of 2 other individual's preferences. Subsequently, it was discovered that S tended to show similar preference for other stimuli (nonsense syllables, pairs of girl's names) to those of the individual with whom they initially agreed. The results were interpreted in terms of a cognitive theory of identification and related to the conditions under which projection and introjection might take place. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4HJ50S. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality similarity, positive affect, and interpersonal attraction.

The present study "assumed that interpersonal positive affect is a key determinant of interpersonal dynamics and that personality similarity facilitates the mutual expression of positive effect. The hypothesis was that subjects and their unilateral sociometric choices have significantly similar personality profiles prior to acquaintance, while subjects and their sociometric rejections do not." The hypothesis was supported. From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2GE84I. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive similarity and interpersonal communication in industry.

Does cognitive similarity affect the process of interpersonal communication? "One hundred and fifty-five Ss responded to 12 triads of jobs and 12 triads of people. The Ss were asked to state 'Which job (person) is more different from the other two?' and 'Why' The responses of subordinates and supervisors to these triads were compared by two judges. If the responses were judged to be similar the index of categoric similarity of the pair was high. The same Ss were asked to rate five jobs and six people on specially constructed semantic differentials. Similarity of the 'semantic profiles' obtained indicated high syndetic similarity between a boss and a subordinate. Successive intervals scales on perceived communication effectiveness and liking within the boss-subordinate pair were constructed. Correlational analysis and analyses of variance showed an association between categoric similarity based on people and syndetic similarity based on jobs and communication effectiveness and liking within the pair. This is considered evidence supporting the hypothesis that cognitive similarity is a significant variable in interpersonal communication and liking." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-cultural similarity and difference in interpersonal behavior.

It is suggested that certain aspects of interpersonal behavior are common to different cultures while certain other aspects change from culture to culture. 8 types of interpersonal behavior are defined; it is predicted that they can be arranged in a circular order according to the size of their coefficients of intercorrelation. The population investigated consists of a sample of 633 married couples living in Jerusalem, Israel, and belonging to 2 cultural groups: one originating from Europe and the other from the Middle East. It was found that the predicted circular order is the same in both groups. On the other hand the size of specific correlation coefficients varies for the 2 groups and appears to be related to group differences in cultural values. Cross-cultural similarity and difference are traced to the sequence of development of interpersonal concepts during socialization and to the influence of cultural values on the formation of these concepts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of actual deception and suspiciousness of deception on interpersonal perceptions.

36 undergraduate "interviewers" each interviewed an introverted and an extraverted "applicant," as assessed by the Eysenck Personality Inventory. One of the applicants acted honestly, the other dishonestly (i.e., extraverts presented themselves as introverts and introverts presented themselves as extraverts). Interviewers were either naive or primed to expect the possibility that deception might be occurring. Primed interviewers were not more accurate than naive interviewers in detecting deception or in discerning applicants' true dispositions. However, the primed interviewers were less confident about their judgments, and they tended to perceive all applicants as more deceptive than did the naive interviewers. Applicants who were interviewed by primed interviewers felt somewhat less successful in their attempts to portray their intended impressions (even though they really were not less successful), and they perceived their interviewers as more manipulative. In the dishonest interviews, the correspondence between the applicants' and the interviewers' perceptions of the interview, and of each other, was significantly lower than in the honest interviews. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression and interpersonal attraction: The role of perceived similarity.

We hypothesized that depressed individuals are generally viewed as dissimilar and that this perceived dissimilarity contributes to negative reactions to the depressed. In addition, we hypothesized that if perceived similarity affects liking of depressed individuals, than nondepressed subjects should prefer nondepressed targets, but depressed subjects should not share this preference. To test these hypotheses, depressed and nondepressed subjects received information about two targets, both either depressed or nondepressed, one attitudinally dissimilar and one attitudinally similar. They were then asked to fill out an attraction measure and an interest in meeting measure for each target. The results clearly supported the primary hypotheses, demonstrating that nondepressed subjects preferred nondepressed targets and perceived them as more similar than depressed targets, and that this preference for nondepressed targets is not shared by depressed subjects. Tests of supplementary hypotheses also confirmed that depressed subjects perceive their best friends as being more depressed and more dissimilar than do nondepressed subjects. The implications of these findings for the social world of the depressed were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coordination success and interpersonal perceptions: Matching versus mismatching.

Coordination is an essential part of social functioning. The authors distinguish 2 types of coordination: matching and mismatching. In matching, coordination is successful if parties choose the same action. In mismatching, coordination is successful if people choose different actions. In 3 studies, the authors investigated the downstream social consequences of tacit coordination for interpersonal perceptions. In all studies, participants repeatedly choose between 2 bets with equivalent expected values, and payoffs increased either when they choose the same bet or when they choose different bets. In the 1st 2 studies, coordination success increased the perceptions of interpersonal similarity and liking when matching was required but not when mismatching was required. The authors' interpretation is that matching responses and coordination success had countervailing effects in the mismatching task. Also, percentage of matched responses did not affect perceptions when coordination was not required (Experiment 2). In 4 person teams, a frequently matching partner was viewed more favorably (smarter, more similar to self, and more liked) than were other teammates, even when mismatching increased payoffs (Experiment 3). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When are dysphoric individuals distressing to others and vice versa? Effects of friendship, similarity, and interaction task.

Examined several factors hypothesized to affect how dysphoric and nondysphoric individuals react to each other. 92 pairs of female college students participated in the study. Ss interacted with either a friend or stranger who had a similar or dissimilar dysphoria status in 3 tasks: a casual conversation, disclosure of a personal problem to the partner, and response to the partner's disclosure of a personal problem. Ss' moods, evaluations of their partners, and verbal behaviors were assessed. Dysphoric Ss exhibited characteristic negative mood and verbal content but did not elicit negative reactions from their partners. Negative reactions were most evident in dysphoric Ss' responses to dissimilar (nondysphoric) strangers, underscoring the need for greater attention to dysphoric individuals' perspective on their social interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cues to identity in online dyads: Effects of interpersonal versus intragroup perceptions on performance.

This article examines the impact of cues to personal identity on the quality of dyadic collaboration via computer-mediated communication systems. Study 1 (N=180) shows that an absence of cues to personal identity resulted in more work satisfaction and better subjective performance. Analyses suggested that this effect was mediated by perceptions of shared identity that emerged in cueless dyads. Study 2 (N=91) confirmed and extended these effects, showing parallel effects on objective performance. The effects of Study 1 were replicated among high identifiers but not low identifiers. This provides direct evidence that social identity played a role in enhancing the quality of dyadic collaboration. It also illustrates the distinction between interpersonal and intragroup processes in online interaction. We conclude that when individuals in a dyad consider themselves part of an overarching social group, anonymity can improve collaboration performance as a function of shared social identity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accuracy, confidence, and juror perceptions in eyewitness identification.

Undergraduates of both sexes individually witnessed the staged theft of a calculator. The 127 witnesses were then given the opportunity to identify the thief from a 6-person picture array; from this sample, 24 accurate-identification witnesses and 18 inaccurate-identification witnesses were cross-examined with either leading or nonleading questions. 201 undergraduates who served as jurors were unable to distinguish accurate from inaccurate witnesses across the 42 cross-examination sessions. However, jurors in the leading-questions conditions were significantly more likely to believe accurate than inaccurate witnesses, whereas the reverse effect held for nonleading questions. Jurors' attributions of witness confidence were unrelated to witness accuracy, even though these attributions accounted for 50% of the variance in jurors' decisions to believe witnesses. The poor accuracy/confidence relationship among witnesses is discussed in relation to the research on probability calibration. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accuracy in interpersonal perception: A social relations analysis.

For the past 30 years, the study of accuracy in person perception has been a neglected topic in social and personality psychology. Research in this area was stopped by a critique of global accuracy scores by Cronbach and Gage. They argued that accuracy should be measured in terms of components. Currently, interest in the topic of accuracy is rekindling. This interest is motivated, in part, by a reaction to the bias literature. We argue that modern accuracy research should (a) focus on measuring when and how people are accurate and not on who is accurate, (b) use each person as both judge and target, and (c) partition accuracy into components. The social relations model (Kenny & La Voie, 1984) can be used as a paradigm to meet these requirements. According to this model, there are four types of accuracy, only two of which are generally conceptually interesting. The first, called individual accuracy, measures the degree to which people's judgments of an individual correspond to how that individual tends to behave across interaction partners. The second, called dyadic accuracy, measures the degree to which people can uniquely judge how a specific individual will behave with them. We present an example that shows high levels of individual accuracy and lower levels of dyadic accuracy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assimilative projection and accuracy of prediction in interpersonal perceptions.

The Allport-Vernon Scale of Values was given to 52 college students. Two or three weeks later, each met with two other Ss and discussed a topic for five minutes with each of them. Before and after each discussion, they filled in the A-V scale as they thought their partners had filled theirs in. Before one of the discussions, S was instructed to focus his attention on himself; before the other discussion, he was asked to focus attention on his partner. "Discussion of the findings suggested that assimilative projection occurs in situations in which incorporation of the other person into already existing constructs about the self is facilitated by focusing attention upon the self. Accurate prediction of the other person takes place when differentation of the self from other is facilitated by focusing attention on the other person." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in effects of social and value similarity in same-sex friendship.

Explored sex differences in effects of social and value similarity in a longitudinal study of 146 same-sex college roommate pairs (62 male and 84 female). The clearest findings concerned actual value similarity among women; those who chose each other as roommates were more similar than those who had been assigned to be roommates. Actual value similarity (measured in the fall quarter) was correlated with liking in the fall and liking in the spring among female chosen pairs; it also predicted which female assigned pairs would remain roommates. None of the analyses of actual value similarity was significant for men, although tests of sex differences in effects yielded mixed results. Few effects were obtained for similarity on social characteristics, except for similarity on year in college. Results are discussed in terms of prior roommate studies, and issues are raised concerning the use of roommates in research on friendship development. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shifting perceptions: Developmental changes in judgments of melodic similarity.

Musical melodies are recognized on the basis of pitch and temporal relations between consecutive tones. Although some previous evidence (e.g., Saffran & Griepentrog, 2001) points to an absolute-to-relative developmental shift in listeners' perception of pitch, other evidence (e.g., Plantinga & Trainor, 2005; Schellenberg & Trehub, 2003) suggests that both absolute- and relative-pitch processing are evident among listeners of all ages (infants, children, and adults). We attempted to resolve this apparent discrepancy by testing adults as well as children 5–12 years of age. On each trial, listeners rated how similar or how different 2 melodies sounded. The melodies were identical, transposed (all tones shifted in pitch by the same amount), different (same tones reordered, changing pitch relations between successive tones), or transposed and different. Listeners of all ages were sensitive to both changes, but younger listeners attended selectively to transpositions as a source of perceived differences. With increasing age, melodic differences played an increasingly important role, whereas transpositions became less relevant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Big Five predictors of behavior and perceptions in initial dyadic interactions: Personality similarity helps extraverts and introverts, but hurts “disagreeables”.

The authors used the unstructured dyadic interaction paradigm to examine the effects of gender and the Big Five personality traits on dyad members’ behaviors and perceptions in 87 initial, unstructured interactions. Most of the significant Big Five effects (84%) were associated with the traits of Extraversion and Agreeableness. There were several significant actor and partner effects for both of these traits. However, the most interesting and novel effects took the form of significant Actor × Partner interactions. Personality similarity resulted in relatively good initial interactions for dyads composed of 2 extraverts or 2 introverts, when compared with dissimilar (extravert–introvert) pairs. However, personality similarity resulted in uniquely poor initial interactions for dyads composed of 2 “disagreeables.” In summary, the Big Five traits predict behavior and perceptions in initial dyadic interactions, not just in the form of actor and partner “main effects” but also in the form of Actor × Partner interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of interpersonal perceptions in the prime-to-behavior pathway.

The present research suggests that biased interpersonal perceptions can mediate prime-to-behavior effects and introduces a new moderator for when such mediation will occur. Across 5 experiments, the authors provide evidence that priming effects on behavior in interpersonal contexts are mediated by social perceptions, but only when participants are focused on the other person. These effects occur when other-focus is primed (Experiment 1), when other-focus is high owing to the decision-making situation (Experiment 2), and when other-focus is dispositionally high (Experiment 3). Experiments 4 and 5 bring additional support for a biased perception account by ruling out an alternative behavior-perception link and showing that other-focus can moderate not only the mediating mechanism of prime-to-behavior effects but also the behavioral effects themselves. The implications of these results for increasing understanding of behavioral priming effects in rich social contexts are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)