Personality Perception Accuracy Development Within Newly Acquainted
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AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Jill A. Brown for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies in Psychology, Statistics, and Human Development and Family Studies presented on April 8, 2011. Title: Personality Perception Accuracy Development within Newly Acquainted Groups Abstract approved: ____________________________________________ Frank J. Bernieri The present research sought to investigate the effect of acquaintance on the accuracy of personality judgments and extend results to groups resembling families. Participants were college students ranging from 18 to 54 years of age enrolled in a ten week long “Psychological Assessment” research practicum. The study was designed to assess the ability of individuals to accurately judge the distribution of group members on each of the big five traits of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness at three different time periods. During the first week participants made a first impression personality trait rating and then engaged in a getting-acquainted conversation with each target and made an additional rating. They then spent nine weeks interacting with targets in activities designed to represent interpersonal contexts that would traditionally occur in a family setting and made final personality ratings at the end of the ten week period. At zero acquaintance participants were able to accurately rank the targets on the traits of extraversion, openness, and neuroticism. After ten weeks of acquaintance-inducing activities participants were able to accurately assess the distribution of group members on each of the big five traits. There was a significant linear trend for increasing accuracy with further acquaintance for all traits with the exception of neuroticism. Implications for relationship development in families are discussed. Keywords: first impression, accuracy, family, trait perception ©Copyright Jill A. Brown April 8, 2011 All Rights Reserved Personality Perception Accuracy Development within Newly Acquainted Groups by Jill A. Brown A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies Presented April 8, 2011 Commencement June 2011 Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies thesis of Jill A. Brown presented on April 8, 2011. APPROVED: Major Professor, representing Psychology Director of Interdisciplinary Studies Program Dean of the Graduate School I understand that my thesis will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my thesis to any reader upon request. ______________________________________________ Jill A. Brown, Author ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author expresses sincere appreciation to the following individuals: Frank Bernieri, Ph.D. for sparking my interest in psychology, for developing my writing, and for his encouragement and guidance as a mentor. Alan Acock, Ph.D., Dan Schafer, Ph.D., and Stewart Trost, Ph.D. for their support as committee members. The research assistants Nicholas Reyna, Alyson Kraus, Hooman Zonoozy, Ryan Armstrong, Sara Vogan, James Babcock, James Scovell, Elysia Todd, Sarah Erickson, Michelle Best, Sarah Noyes, Becky Baker, Jordan Clark, Chris Grooms, Jessica Waldo, Krikor Gazarian, Crystal Fisher, Jason Gibbs, Josh Klein, Shaila McCarthy, Naomi Sprague, Stewart Risinger, Jackson Pugh, Matthew Austin, Lisa Furumasu, Laura Romrell, Tiffany Diec, Rebecca Wooldridge, Greg Hagg, Shawna Smith, and Rory Running for their hard work and dedication to the project. Naomi Sprague and Trevor Sandgathe for their assistance in the effective communication of my ideas. Kathleen Shaw, Jordan Clark, Lucas Friedrichsen, Tyler Abel, and Samantha Carolla for providing a loyal cheering section and reminding me when to take a break. Mom, Dad, and Jae for their continued love and support in everything I do. And last, but certainly not least, Josh Klein for his ability to maintain my sanity and help with whatever necessary, whenever necessary. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 Family Theory ......................................................................................................... 5 Family Life Course Development Theory ........................................................ 5 Family development .................................................................................... 5 Time measurement ...................................................................................... 6 Families as Groups ............................................................................................ 8 Impression Formation and Accuracy .................................................................... 10 Impression Formation ..................................................................................... 10 Personality ....................................................................................................... 11 Accuracy in Personality Judgment .................................................................. 13 Research in Personality Judgment Formation and Revision ........................... 15 Application to Family Theory ......................................................................... 18 Present Research ................................................................................................... 20 Zero Acquaintance .......................................................................................... 21 Getting-Acquainted Conversation ................................................................... 22 Developmental Manipulation .......................................................................... 22 Materials and Methods .......................................................................................... 25 Participants ...................................................................................................... 25 Materials .......................................................................................................... 26 Personality criterion measure .................................................................... 26 Personality judgment measure .................................................................. 27 TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Page Procedures ....................................................................................................... 28 Zero acquaintance ..................................................................................... 28 Getting-acquainted conversation ............................................................... 29 Overview of activities ............................................................................... 30 Final assessment ........................................................................................ 36 Impression Accuracy Assessment ................................................................... 36 Results ................................................................................................................... 38 Demographics ................................................................................................. 38 Accuracy ......................................................................................................... 38 Accuracy at zero acquaintance .................................................................. 40 Accuracy after a getting-acquainted conversation and developmental manipulation ........................................................................................... 40 Accuracy trends ......................................................................................... 42 Discussion ............................................................................................................. 45 Personality Judgments ..................................................................................... 46 Zero acquaintance ..................................................................................... 46 Getting-acquainted conversation ............................................................... 48 Final assessment ........................................................................................ 49 Limitations ...................................................................................................... 50 Family Theory ................................................................................................. 52 Implications ..................................................................................................... 53 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 54 Bibliography .......................................................................................................... 55 Footnotes ............................................................................................................... 62 TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Page Appendices ............................................................................................................ 63 Appendix A Sample items from the NEO Personality Inventory – Revised .. 64 Appendix B Ten Item Personality Inventory .................................................. 65 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Seating arrangement ........................................................................................ 28 2. Zero acquaintance ratings ..............................................................................