title: Deconstructing the "reign of error": interpersonal warmth explains the self-fulfilling prophecy of anticipated acceptance.
abstract: People's expectations of acceptance often come to create the acceptance or rejection they anticipate. The authors tested the hypothesis that interpersonal warmth is the behavioral key to this acceptance prophecy: If people expect acceptance, they will behave warmly, which in turn will lead other people to accept them; if they expect rejection, they will behave coldly, which will lead to less acceptance. A correlational study and an experiment supported this model. Study 1 confirmed that participants' warm and friendly behavior was a robust mediator of the acceptance prophecy compared to four plausible alternative explanations. Study 2 demonstrated that situational cues that reduced the risk of rejection also increased socially pessimistic participants' warmth and thus improved their social outcomes.
authors: University of Waterloo, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. dstinson@uvic.ca
authors: Danu Anthony
authors: DA
authors: Stinson
authors: Jessica J
authors: JJ
authors: Cameron
authors: Joanne V
authors: JV
authors: Wood
authors: Danielle
authors: D
authors: Gaucher
authors: John G
authors: JG
authors: Holmes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D001242:Assertiveness; D002605:Character; D003469:Culture; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D012059:Rejection, Psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D012718:Set, Psychology; D012919:Social Behavior; D012928:Social Desirability; D055815:Young Adult