OBSERVABLE AND UNOBSERVABLE ASPECTS OF TRAITS IN SELF-OTHER COMPARISONS.
Previous research on absolute trait judgments regarding self and others showed that, compared to self-judgments, other-judgments involve greater focus on external, observable (as opposed to internal, unobservable) aspects of traits. The present research attempted to extend those findings to comparative judgments. In two experiments, Polish undergraduates (N = 144) were asked to perform a series of comparative self-other judgments followed by a series of absolute judgments regarding either the self or another person. The absolute judgments employed the same traits as the comparative judgments but with the trait preceded by a qualifier: either "feels," referring to covert, unobservable aspects of the trait, or "looks," referring to overt, observable aspects. As expected, comparative judgments correlated higher with absolute feels judgments regarding the self and with absolute looks judgments regarding the other than with absolute looks judgments regarding the self and absolute feels judgments regarding the other. This occurred for self-other judgments involving acquaintances but not for self-other judgments involving close friends.
1 SWPS Uniwersytet Humanistycznospoleczny, Poland.
Jakub
J
Niewiarowski
2 Instytut Psychologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Poland, and University of North Florida, USA.
Jerzy J
JJ
Karylowski
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D011044:Poland; D012649:Self Concept; D012938:Social Perception; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires