Multidimensional Models of Social Perception, Cognition, and Behavior

Abstract

A common assumption of social psychological theo ries is that interpersonal behavior is mediated by struc tured cognitive representations of self and others, in teraction episodes, interpersonal roles and relation ships, group goals and tasks, as well as more general social environments and situations. A second basic theoretical assumption is that both individual adjust ment and group effectiveness depend on some degree of consensus and stability in conceptions of these do mains; thus, investigation of communalities and differ ences in perception and structuring of social stimuli is an important prerequisite for prediction of both indi vidual differences and intraindividual consistency in social behavior. The present paper reviews theoretical, empirical and methodological work that is relevant to these issues, with an emphasis on research that has employed mul tidimensional scaling, clustering techniques, and re lated multivariate methods to investigate problems in social cognition. Work in three major areas is re viewed : (1) interpersonal perception and attraction in intact groups; (2) perception of political and fictional figures; and (3) perception of social roles, relation ships, and situations. For each area, one or more ex emplary studies are discussed, related work is cited, and relevant theoretical and methodological issues are raised.