Identity negotiation in roommate relationships: The self as architect and consequence of social reality.

Report 2 longitudinal studies of new college roommates (N?=?69 and 95 pairs). In both studies, targets' initial self-views predicted changes in perceivers' appraisals of them, and perceivers' initial appraisals predicted changes in targets' self-views, although relatively few dyads displayed both effects. The perceiver-driven and target-driven effects occurred when appraisals and self-views were negative as well as positive. Implications for self-verification theory and symbolic interactionism are discussed, and a less restrictive model of how appraisals influence self-views is proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)