“It depends on your perspective”: Effects of stance and beliefs about intent on person perception

Abstract

Researchers have noted the importance of investigating biases in the interaction process, including the argument that perceptions of people observing an interaction differ from the views of the interactants. The present study investigates this bias further by looking at how it co‐exists with beliefs about intentionality. Within the context of behavioral mirroring, both observational stance and beliefs about intent influenced the judgments people made about a person's character and behavior, as well as the relational messages the person sent to his/her interaction partner. Overall, people in interactions and those who were not induced to believe that another acted with intent rated their partners more favorably than did those who watched a videotape of the interaction and those who believed another mirrored nonverbal behaviors intentionally. The similarity between the ways in which observers and those who assumed the other acted with intent made their judgments suggests that both “biases” worked to instiga...