The validity of simulated prediction of behavior

The author examined a method of predicting behavior, in which the responses of individuals who might conceivably perform certain behaviors were independently simulated by experts acquainted both with the individuals and with the predicted behaviors. Scores derived from belief questionnaires completed by the supervisors of 48 Israeli undergraduate students significantly predicted the students' behavior almost as accurately as scores derived from questionnaires that had been completed by the students themselves, and more accurately than the supervisors' intuitive predictions of the students' behavior.