Advances in Experimental Social Psychology
Publisher: Academic Press
Published: September 1991
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 359
ISBN-13: 9780120152247
Subjects: Social, group or collective psychology; Experimental Psychology; Social Psychology; Psychology; Science/Mathematics
First sentence: This article reviews controversies that have surrounded research on interpersonal accuracy for the last 50 years by providing and justifying a probabilistic conception of accuracy and by addressing the following issues: Whether accuracy can be distinguished from logical coherence; whether accuracy research provides insight into cognitive processes; why accuracy in perception of a behavior or trait must be distinguished from accuracy in explanations for that behavior or trait; how to distinguish self-fulfilling prophecy from accuracy; why distinguishing among several levels of analysis is crucial with respect to evaluating the accuracy of social stereotypes; whether accuracy research helps create or alleviate social problems; how accuracy can sometimes lead to discrimination; similarities and differences between establishing scientific construct validity and the accuracy of lay social beliefs; and the nature of some of the contributions to understanding social perception provided by componential and noncomponential approaches to the study of accuracy.