Social Relations Modeling of Interpersonal Accuracy

Interpersonal perception is a dyadic phenomenon with multiple perspectives; dyad members reciprocally perceive one another (perceptions), while also assessing how the other perceives them (meta-perceptions). Because accuracy is inherently dyadic, social relations modeling is appropriate for partitioning interpersonal perceptions into theoretically meaningful components called perceiver, target, and relationship. Estimation of accuracy should use only the relevant components when assessing if perceptions conform to a validity criterion. Moreover, interpersonal perception exists within a broader nomological network of perceptual phenomena. People assume that others’ traits are similar to their own traits (assumed similarity), and that others judge them as they judge others (assumed reciprocity). Each has implications for accuracy. Theoretical models are developed that specify the effect of perceivers’ assumptions about others (i.e., top-down processes), and the effect of others’ behaviors (i.e., bottom-up processes) on perceivers’ judgments of targets’ traits, and their impact on accuracy.