The Effect of Dislike on Accuracy and Bias in Person Perception

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Authors

The present work explores how accuracy and bias in person perception change with the level of liking that the perceiver holds toward the target person. Specifically, we studied whether dislike affects (a) the social desirability of judgments (positivity bias), (b) the extent to which the target is described like an average person (normative accuracy), and (c) the extent to which the judgment reflects the given target’s characteristics in particular (distinctive accuracy). Eighty-four participants watched four target persons on video, after receiving bogus feedback on how positively or negatively those targets had supposedly evaluated them. The participants reciprocated negative bogus evaluations showing a marked decrease in reported liking for the respective target. Most important, dislike was consistently associated with lower positivity bias, greater normative accuracy, and lower distinctive accuracy across two validation measures (i.e., self-reports and informant reports of target persons).

Original languageEnglish
JournalSocial Psychological and Personality Science
Volume9
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)80-88
Number of pages9
ISSN1948-5506
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.01.2018
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • accuracy, interpersonal relationships, person perception, personality assessment, response style
  • Psychology

DOI