Where Lies the Truth? Accuracy and Diverging Perspectives in Interpersonal Perception

Abstract

Organizing becomes difficult when people do not see eye to eye. For instance, we often assume that others think and feel about us in the same way that we think and feel about them. These assumptions are often inaccurate, and yet people tend to act on their assumptions before they learn of their (in)accuracy. As a result, employees who misperceive others’ behavior may act in ways that disrupt coordination, reduce productivity, and tarnish relationships. Central to all of these issues is understanding how different people perceive the same behavior as enacted by a given individual. To deepen our understanding of interpersonal (mis)perception in organizations, the presentations in this symposium examine how behaviors of interest to employers are viewed from multiple vantage points (e.g., expressor versus recipient; recipient versus observer). Our first two presentations examine actor-observer differences in perceptions of consent and social sexual behavior; our third presentation examines dyadic meta-accuracy in flirting behavior; our fourth presentation examines self-other differences in perceptions of creative idea generation; our fifth presentation examines interpersonal perception in the context of goal attainment. Consent is in the Eye of the Beholder: Actors and Observers See Consent Differently Presenter: Vanessa Bohns; Cornell U. Presenter: Roseanna Sommers; U. of Chicago Law School Female Actor Attractiveness Leads to Men's Favorable Perceptions of Social Sexual Workplace Behavior Presenter: Sonya Mishra; UC Berkeley Presenter: Margaret Lee; Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley Presenter: Laura Kray; U. of California, Berkeley Do We Know Who Flirts with Us? Dyadic Meta-Accuracy Among Men and Women Presenter: Casher Belinda; Kenan-Flagler Business School, U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Presenter: Shimul Melwani; U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill The “Eureka!” Bias: People Believe Others Generate Ideas More Quickly Than the Self Presenter: Juliana Schroeder; U. of California, Berkeley Presenter: Elizabeth R. Wilson; Northwestern Kellogg School of Management Presenter: Adam Waytz; Northwestern Kellogg School of Management Hitting Your Target: How Both Exceeding and Failing Goals Damage Interpersonal Impressions Presenter: Sara Clark Wingrove; Fuqua School of Business, Duke U. Presenter: Danbee Chon; Duke U. Presenter: Jessica Jee Won Paek; Fuqua School of Business, Duke U. Presenter: Richard Paul Larrick; Duke U.