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Convergence between self and peer in the response-time processing of trait-relevant information
1Department of Psychology, University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas 78249-0652, USA.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|November 1, 1995
Summary
People's self-knowledge structures, or self-schemas, are mirrored by how well-acquainted peers perceive their personality traits. Peer perceptions align closely with self-perceptions, suggesting similar cognitive structures for self and others.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Personality Psychology
Background:
- Self-schemas are cognitive structures influencing self-knowledge processing.
- Previous research has not clarified if peer knowledge about personality traits resembles self-schemas.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if peer-knowledge structures about an individual's traits are similar to the individual's self-schemas.
- To compare the accuracy and characteristics of self-knowledge processing with peer-knowledge processing.
Main Methods:
- Compared "schematic" measures (e.g., response time in self-ratings) with traits attributed by well-acquainted peers.
- Analyzed the convergence between self-ratings, peer-ratings, and response times.
Main Results:
- Peer-ratings were almost as accurate as self-ratings in predicting self-description response times.
- Extreme self-ratings predicted extreme peer-ratings and rapid peer judgments.
- This convergence was independent of the similarity between the peer's self-ratings and the target's.
Conclusions:
- Knowledge structures about individuals held by peers share content and processing characteristics with the individual's own self-schemas.
- Suggests a strong parallel between how individuals represent themselves and how they are represented by close others.