Another Look at Accuracy and Confidence in Social Judgments

This study examined the relationship between accuracy and confidence on the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT-15). This version of the IPT contains 15 brief, real-life scenes on videotape for which there are objectively correct answers to questions about status, intimacy, kinship, competition, and deception. A total of 241 participants were run in a 2 (high vs. low cognitive demand) × 2 (first impression vs. nonverbal cues strategy) × 2 (sex of participant) design. Overall, no significant relationship was found when accuracy scores were correlated with two between-participant measures of confidence. There was, however, a significant relationship within-participants between accuracy and confidence. Thus, participants' rated confidence for each of the 15 scenes did predict accuracy in judgments about the scenes. In addition, a 2 × 2 × 2 ANOVA on participants' transformed accuracy-confidence correlations revealed a small, significant effect of strategy. Specifically, the accuracy-confidence correlations were higher when participants were instructed to attend to specific nonverbal cues in making their judgments than when they were told to rely on their first impressions. Although there were no differences between men and women in either their accuracy or their accuracy-confidence correlations, men rated their confidence significantly higher than did women. The factors affecting the accuracy-confidence relationship and their role in automatic judgments are discussed.     

Accuracy and Confidence on the Interpersonal Perception Task: A Japanese-American Comparison

This study compared the accuracy and confidence of Japanese and American participants on the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT-15). The IPT contains 15 brief, real-life scenes on videotape for which there are objectively correct answers about relationships and deception. A total of 344 participants were run in a 2 (Japanese vs. American participants) × 2 (Audiovisual vs. Visual-Only presentation) × 2 (Sex of participant) design. Support was found for the hypothesized greater accuracy of Americans over Japanese, but a Culture × Presentation Modality interaction qualified the main effect of culture. Specifically, Japanese and American participants had virtually identical scores on the IPT-15 in the Visual-Only condition, but Americans' scores increased while Japanese scores decreased in the Audiovisual condition. Analyses of the confidence measures indicated that American participants were much more confident than the Japanese participants, but this difference was larger in the Audiovisual condition than in the Visual-Only condition. In addition, the prediction that women would be more accurate on the IPT, but still report lower confidence than men, was also supported. Finally, Japanese participants with moderate proficiency in spoken English were more accurate on the IPT than those with low English proficiency. The likely processes underlying these differences and the possible directions for future research are discussed.     

Exploring the Role of Working Memory in Dynamic Social Cue Decoding Using Dual Task Methodology

Decoding nonverbal social cues involves skills such as understanding emotions and discerning kin relationships. Social cue decoding has been described as an automatic process which does not tax cognitive resources. However, clinical deficits in social decoding are often interpreted in terms of deficits in attention and working memory. Two experiments are described which used dual task methodology to investigate the role of working memory in dynamic social cue decoding tasks: the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT, Experiment 1) and the Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity (PONS, Experiment 2). Results revealed that decoding social cues from the IPT did not require working memory resources, while social perception in the PONS made heavy demands on working memory. Implications for theoretical interpretation of these tasks and their use in clinical populations are discussed.

Recall of Nonverbal Cues: Exploring a New Definition of Interpersonal Sensitivity

Interpersonal sensitivity, defined as the accurate recall of another person’s nonverbal behavior, was measured in two studies. In Study 1, nonverbal recall accuracy (NRA) was based on recall of cues expressed by a man and/or woman being interviewed on videotape. Retest reliability after 2 weeks was satisfactory and the male and female tests demonstrated sufficient convergence. Participants could assess their own recall accuracy at better than chance levels; ability to decode the meanings of visual nonverbal cues was positively related to NRA; discriminant validity of NRA was demonstrated with regard to general cognitive ability; and women had higher NRA than men. In Study 2, NRA was based on recall of a live interaction partner. Women again had higher NRA than men; NRA was significantly better than chance; and higher NRA was associated with more smiling and self-reported positive affect during the interaction. Nonverbal recall accuracy is a promising new definition of interpersonal sensitivity.

Asperger’s Syndrome and the Decoding of Boredom,Interest, and Disagreement from Body Posture

Twenty Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) participants were compared with 20 matched neurotypical controls in their decoding of postural cues of boredom, interest, and disagreement. On a nonverbal matching task, the AS group performed as accurately as the controls, whereas on a verbal labeling task, AS participants made significantly more mistakes in labeling bored postures. Response times of the AS group were significantly slower than controls in their judgments of all three attitudes on both tasks, with the exception only of disagreeing postures on the verbal labeling task. It was hypothesized that these slower response times may reflect a feature-based cognitive processing style by AS participants. Proposed practical recommendations are to train AS individuals in the recognition of boredom, and to improve the speed with which they can recognize different attitudes.     

Sensitivity to nonverbal cues as a function of social competence

The hypothesis that sensitivity to nonverbal messages is an important component of social compentence was tested employing 24 female subjects. It was predicted that subjects low in social competence would experience a high level of anxiety in a social interaction and that this would interfere with their ability to attend to the nonverbal behaviors of others. Subjects were given the task of interviewing a confederate. They were instructed to change the interview topic if the questioning appeared to produce discomfort in their partner. The confederate displayed a series of nonverbal cues indicating mounting tension while responding to certain questions. Two measures of sensitivity to the cues were obtained: (1) how quickly the subject changed the interview topic in response to the cues and (2) how many nonverbal cues the subject reported observing. The findings indicated that low-competence subjects reported having observed as many of the nonverbal messages as the high-competence subjects but failed to respond to them. An explanation for this is offered based on information gathered during a postexperimental interview. No difference was found between groups for level of anxiety experienced during the interaction. This is discussed in terms of the experimental design employed, which may have served to reduce anxiety in the subjects.This study was conducted by the first author as part of the requirements for the master's degree at the University of Connecticut. The authors wish to express their appreciation to Suzanne Weiss, who served as the confederate and assisted in the analysis of the data.     

The judgment of rapport: A cross-cultural comparison between Americans and Greeks

Interpersonal perception was examined cross-culturally by having samples of Greek and American subjects view and judge the level of rapport throughout the same series of 50 dyadic interactions recorded in America. The overall pattern of results showed that: (a) the judgment policies and accuracy of the Greek and American samples were remarkably similar; (b) both groups fell far short of the agreement level possible for this task; and (c) the low levels of achievement were a consequence of both groups giving insufficient weight to valid behavioral predictors of rapport while relying on the apparently compelling but invalid cues, smiling and expressivity. Both the Greeks and Americans, it appears, have widely shared implicit theories or policies regarding which observable (i.e., nonverbal) aspects of an interaction indicate its positivity; these implicit policies are remarkably similar and they are imperfect.This research was supported by a National Science Foundation Young Investigator grant to the first author.     

Temporal Patterns of Accuracy Confidence in Social Judgments: A New Method and Initial Results

An integrated, computer-based system was developed to record participants’ continuous judgment changes on a revised form of the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT-15). Consistent with the considerable research on “thin slice” judgments, the mean latency for greater than chance accuracy confidence was just 16 s (median = 10 s) for the ten one-part scenes on the IPT. There was also a clear and strong linear trend for increasing accuracy confidence across the first 25 s of the ten one-part scenes. For the five-two-part scenes, where comparative judgments were required (e.g., which statement is truthful, which is a lie?), no clear pattern of increasing accuracy confidence was found, with mean scores hovering near chance. The utility of the new system for analyzing the time course of social judgments is discussed and the potential reasons for the contrasting results for the one-part and two-part scenes were examined.     

KNOWLEDGE OF NONVERBAL CUES,GENDER, AND NONVERBAL DECODING ACCURACY

The Test of Nonverbal Cue Knowledge (TONCK), a paper and pencil test measuring explicit knowledge of nonverbal cue meanings and uses, was developed and found to be reliable and to have predictive ability. In four studies, participants were given the TONCK and one or more tests of accuracy in decoding nonverbal cues the adult faces and voices tests of the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy 2 (DANVA) and the video and audio tests of the Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity (PONS), as well as a test of general cognitive ability (the Wonderlic Personnel Test). Results are reported for the four studies individually and also in a meta-analytic summary. Females scored higher than males on the TONCK and on the PONS, and the TONCK predicted accuracy on the PONS and DANVA. Knowledge of nonverbal cues did not account for the gender difference in decoding ability on the PONS. Cognitive ability was related to the TONCK but did not compromise relations with other variables. The future utility of the TONCK, content specificity of tests, as well as the automaticity of judging cues are discussed.The authors thank Crystal Mileti, Jenna Lavery, Erica Dempsey, and Jared Majerle for their assistance in conducting this research.     

Certainty Broadcasts Risk Preferences: Verbal and Nonverbal Cues to Risk-Taking

People often attempt to ascertain how risky another person is willing to be. Even when this information is not purposely divulged, people may unwittingly broadcast their willingness to take risks by displaying cues to their level of certainty. Because subjective reports of feeling certain predict risk behavior, we examined whether targets’ certainty could be discerned unobtrusively and be used to predict their risky decision-making. In small groups, participants discussed two risk problems, made risk decisions, and then wrote an essay about their decision-making process. Participants’ nonverbal behavior and speech content during the group interaction, and their subsequent essay content were assessed by naïve coders and objective word-count software for cues to certainty. Subjective assessments of nonverbal behavior and objective assessments of language content revealed that certainty cues predicted greater risk propensity. Therefore, across the three communication modalities of nonverbal behavior, speech, and text, more certainty cues revealed risky behavior.     

Nonverbal Communication of Similarity Via the Torso: It’s in the Bag

The human body plays a central role in nonverbal communication, conveying attitudes, personality, and values during social interactions. Three experiments in a large, open classroom setting investigated whether the visibility of torso-located cues affects nonverbal communication of similarity. In Experiments 1 and 2, half the participants wore a black plastic bag over their torso. Participants interacted with an unacquainted same-sex individual selected from a large class who was also wearing (or also not wearing) a bag. Experiment 3 added a clear bag condition, in which visual torso cues were not obscured. Across experiments, black bag-wearing participants selected partners who were less similar to them on attitudes, behaviors, and personality compared to the bag-less—and clear bag—participants. Nonverbal cues in the torso communicate information about similarity of attitudes, behavior, and personality; the center of the body plays a surprisingly central role in early-stage person perception and attraction.     

Nonverbal Decoding on Facebook: Applying the IPT-15 and the SSI to Personality Judgments

This study uses the lens model paradigm to explore whether two interpersonal sensitivity tests [i.e., Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT-15), Social Skills Inventory (SSI)] are associated with the accuracy of personality judgments made from Facebook (FB) profile pages. Target participants’ (N = 100) personality, self-monitoring, and FB honesty were self-reported, and the FB profile of each target was downloaded. Observers (N = 35) completed the IPT-15 and SSI and then estimated each profile owner’s personality from the profile pages. Observers’ scores on the IPT-15 were positively associated with the accuracy of estimates of targets’ extraversion and neuroticism. Observers’ SSI-ES scores were positively associated with the accuracy of estimates of targets’ agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness. Characteristics of targets, such as self-monitoring, FB honesty, and overall FB use, also affected the accuracy of estimates. Results demonstrate that offline measures of sensitivity are associated with the accuracy of online personality judgments.     

Sensory-Processing Sensitivity and Nonverbal Decoding: The Effect on Listening Ability and Accuracy

Sensory-processing sensitivity (Aron & Aron, 1997) is a broad temperament construct consisting of two orthogonal dimensions, including deep processing of sensory information (manifest in a tendency to notice fine details) and a low threshold for arousal (exhibited as rapid irritability). This article investigates the multiple effects of sensory-processing sensitivity on nonverbal decoding, specifically identifying emotions from paralinguistic cues. High sensitivity is predicted to relate to enhanced accuracy. Additionally, participants are exposed to stimulation to examine whether arousal relates to deficits in accuracy. Results indicate no significant differences in decoding between sensitive and nonsensitive persons, regardless of the presence of stimulation.     

When symbolism overtakes quality: Materialists consumers disregard product quality when faced with luxury brands

Consumers use extrinsic and intrinsic cues to set preferences and make purchase decisions. However, the extent to which luxury-related extrinsic cues determine consumer preferences and whether the relative weighting of extrinsic vs. intrinsic cues depends on consumers’ values is still unclear. We investigated how luxury vs. non-luxury brands affect consumer preferences, and how this impact is moderated by consumers’ materialistic values. Results from Experiment 1 showed that materialistic and non-materialistic participants similarly appreciated products with luxurious brands. However, compared with non-materialistic participants, materialistic participants devaluated products that were tagged as non-luxurious brands. In Experiment 2, we investigated how product quality interacts with brands and whether materialistic values moderated this interaction. Materialistic participants paid more attention to brand-related cues than to quality-related cues, whereas non-materialistic participants considered these cues similarly. Taken together, the results of these two studies suggest that materialism influences the way extrinsic (i.e., brand) and intrinsic (i.e., quality) information is combined during product evaluation. These results highlight the importance of materialism in consumer decision-making, especially in the context of luxury consumption.     

Do tests of nonverbal decoding ability measure sensitivity to nonverbal cues?

Compared to efficient decoders (who excel on tests of nonverbal decoding ability), inefficient decoders may (1) use a restricted repertoire of nonverbal cues; (2) use the same repertoire but be less sensitive to the cues; or (3) be more sensitive to cues of high informative utility and less sensitive to cues of lesser utility. Subjects were asked to identify romantic heterosexual couples in photographs. Potential cues were generated by think aloud protocols (Study 1); their presence and informative utility were determined through ratings (Study 2). Study 3 estimated cues' influence on “couple” decisions. Decisions were affected by all the informative cues (“proximity,” “contact,” and “context”) with efficient decoders being more sensitive to “proximity” than inefficient decoders. However, inefficient decoders weremore sensitive than efficient decoders to uninformative cues suggesting couples' similarity. Hence, the present test does not measure sensitivity (Hypotheses 1 and 2) but measures sensitivity-tuning (Hypothesis 3).     

FROM TEXT TO GESTURE ONLINE: A microethnographic analysis of nonverbal communication in the Second Life virtual environment

A transition from text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) to online interaction that includes both textual and nonverbal discourse represents a new development in online communication and a significant challenge to prevailing models for the analysis of CMC. This paper presents results of a six-month-long ethnographic research of nonverbal communication (NVC) in the Second Life (SL) virtual environment. A set of 108 SL locations selected in a non-structured manner provided a wide range of communicative contexts for the analysis of naturally occurring user interaction. The study was focused on the analysis of proxemic and kinesic cues. The results have pointed to a significant difference between user-defined and predefined nonverbal cues, indicating that user-defined NVC has stronger potential to enhance online interaction.     

Research on deception in marketing communications: Its relevance to the study of nonverbal behavior

Marketing researchers have used a variety of approaches in studies of deception and related subjects. This literature is selectively reviewed here, with emphasis on findings relevant to the study of nonverbal behavior. Topics covered include: (a) deception-detection experiments involving advertising, bargaining, and selling; (b) ways of deceiving by implication, while avoiding literal falsehoods; (c) cues conveying the impression of truthfulness, as predicted by attribution and economic theories; (d) circumstances under which lower credibility may be associated with stronger persuasion; (e) individual differences in disbelief in marketing communications; and (f) corporate analogies to individual nonverbal behavior.I would like to thank Jacob Jacoby for serving as guest editor for this paper and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.     

The child and adolescent social perception measure

Tests currently available for measuring children's sensitivity to nonverbal aspects of communication have been criticized on methodological and conceptual grounds. The Child and Adolescent Social Perception Measure (CASP) was developed to meet the need for a clinically useful measure which examines social perception within a semi-naturalistic context. The CASP consists of 10 videotaped scenes, each of which lasts 19–40 seconds. The verbal content was removed through electronic filtering so that the ability to receive and interpret nonverbal social cues could be measured without bias from verbal cues. Children are shown the scenes and then questioned about the emotions portrayed. Based on standardization with 212 children and adolescents ages 6 to 15 years old, reliability (interrater, test-retest, internal consistency) and initial validity information are reported.Portions of this paper have been presented at the Congress of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists, London, England, 1994, and at the joint conference of the Canadian and American Occupational Therapists, Boston, 1994.We acknowledge funding from the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Research Grants Program. We thank each of the actors and actresses who generously volunteered their time to produce the videotape; the students and teachers in the schools who participated in the collection of the normative data; and the research assistants who worked many hard hours to make this all possible (Janet L. Smith, Kara Ryan, Dixie McLean, Kate Murie, Taslim Pardhan).     

Crisis response and crisis timing strategies,two sides of the same coin

This study investigates the moderating impact of the timing of crisis disclosure on the effect of crisis response strategies on organizational post-crisis reputation. It proposes that self-disclosing a crisis allows organizations to avoid explicitly taking or rejecting responsibility by means of a crisis response strategy. A 2 (crisis timing strategy: ex-ante vs. ex-post) × 2 (crisis response strategy: response strategy vs. objective information only) between-subjects factorial design was conducted among 137 participants. The results show that organizations that do not steal thunder better use a reputation restoring crisis response strategy than just providing stakeholders objective information about what happened. In addition, the results demonstrate that if an organization steals thunder, it is not necessary to offer reputation restoring crisis response strategies such as an apology. These findings stress the importance of timing to disclose crisis information in addition to the content of crisis communication strategies.     

“Just a hunch”: Accuracy and awareness in person perception

Person perception tasks involving nonverbal communication have a mystified reputation. It is frequently argued that nonverbal cues are accurately, but only unconsciously, perceived. This may explain the frequent response of judges who, when asked to decode a sample of nonverbal behavior, reply that it was just a hunch—i.e., show little or no awareness of how they arrived at a judgment, even a correct one. Two alternative models, the Unconsciousness hypothesis and the Inarticulation hypothesis are posited to describe the possible relationship between accuracy and awareness. Two studies are reported on the relationship between accuracy and awareness, both using the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT). In the first study, the IPT was given to a sample of 476 undergraduates. Accuracy was measured by how many of the 30 IPT questions these judges answered correctly. Global awareness was indexed by having each judge guess how many of the 30 scenes they had answered correctly. In this coarse analysis, the accuracy-awareness relationship was positive but weak. A second experiment was conducted to produce more fine-grained tests of the accuracy-awareness relationship. Different versions of the IPT were presented to 134 undergraduates. Judges given each version of the IPT were asked to indicate their degree of confidence in each one of their answers. This second experiment found a positive, substantial relationship between accuracy and awareness, and this relationship was particularly strong when analyzed across experimental conditions as a whole. These findings support the Inarticulation hypothesis, and cast doubt on the Unconsciousness hypothesis. Implications for an emerging understanding of how nonverbal communication is processed are discussed.We wish to thank Robin Akert and Bob Rosenthal for helpful advice and inspiration.