Trait Perception Accuracy and Acquaintance Within Groups: Tracking Accuracy Development

Abstract

Previous work on trait perception has evaluated accuracy at discrete stages of relationships (e.g., strangers, best friends). A relatively limited body of literature has investigated changes in accuracy as acquaintance within a dyad or group increases. Small groups of initially unacquainted individuals spent more than 30 hr participating in a wide range of activities designed to represent common interpersonal contexts (e.g., eating, traveling). We calculated how accurately each participant judged others in their group on the big five traits across three distinct points within the acquaintance process: zero acquaintance, after a getting-to-know-you conversation, and after 10 weeks of interaction and activity. Judgments of all five traits exhibited accuracy above chance levels after 10 weeks. An examination of the trait rating stability revealed that much of the revision in judgments occurred not over the course of the 10-week relationship as suspected, but between zero acquaintance and the getting-to-know-you conversation.