Summary Although adolescents seeking mental health services may not consider them related, the prevalent co-morbidity of substance use and mental health problems makes it imperative that practitioners find ways of engaging troubled youth about substance issues. Based on their responses to a clinical self-assessment questionnaire (Adquest), this study shows that mental health service applicants are willing to disclose their substance use behaviors and are open to talking about them to intake workers. Age and gender differences in substance use patterns and willingness to talk are explored.
Self-reports and clinician reports of personality pathology are often less accurate or diagnostic of pathology than are acquaintances' reports. The current commentary outlines how clinicians and researchers might tap into the information acquaintances have about clients by asking clients to describe how other people might describe them.
Problematic interpersonal behavior might stem from and be maintained by the beliefs people have about how others see them (i.e., metaperceptions). The current study tested whether people with interpersonal problems formed more or less accurate metaperceptions about their personality (meta-accuracy), whether they thought others saw them in more or less positive ways (positivity), and whether they underestimated or overestimated how much others saw them as they saw themselves (transparency).Participants (NTime1 = 189; NTime2 = 175; Mage = 19.78; 36% male) completed a measure of interpersonal problems and provided personality judgments and metaperceptions for a group of peers after a first impression and after 4 months of acquaintanceship.Generalized distress was associated with less positive metaperceptions at both times and with higher meta-accuracy after 4 months. Dominance problems were not associated with meta-accuracy, positivity, or transparency after a first impression, but dominance was linked to lower meta-accuracy and lower positivity after 4 months. Affiliation problems were associated with higher meta-accuracy after a first impression and with higher positivity and transparency at both times.Metaperceptions were linked to interpersonal problems, and these expectations might partially explain some maladaptive patterns of behavior.
The intuition that we have privileged and unrestricted access to ourselves – that we inevitably know who we are, how we feel, what we do, and what we think – is very compelling. Here, we review three types of evidence about the accuracy of self-perceptions of personality and conclude that the glass is neither full nor empty. First, studies comparing self-perceptions of personality to objective criteria suggest that self-perceptions are at least tethered to reality – people are not completely clueless about how they behave, but they are also far from perfect. Second, studies examining how well people's self-perceptions agree with others' perceptions of them suggest that people's self-views are not completely out of synch with how they are seen by those who know them best, but they are also far from identical. Third, studies examining whether people know the impressions they make on others suggest that people do have some glimmer of insight into the fact that others see them differently than they see themselves but there is still a great deal people do not know about how others see them. The findings from all three approaches point to the conclusion that self-knowledge exists but leaves something to be desired. The status of people's self-knowledge about their own personality has vast implications both for our conception of ourselves as rational agents and for the methods of psychological inquiry.
Do people with personality problems have insight into how others experience them? In a large community sample of adults (N = 641), the authors examined whether people with personality disorder (PD) symptoms were aware of how a close acquaintance (i.e., a romantic partner, family member, or friend) perceived them by measuring participants' metaperceptions and self-perceptions as well as their acquaintance's impression of them on Five-Factor Model traits. Compared to people with fewer PD symptoms, people with more PD symptoms tended to be less accurate and tended to overestimate the negativity of the impressions they made on their acquaintance, especially for the traits of extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Interestingly, these individuals did not necessarily assume that their acquaintance perceived them as they perceived themselves; instead, poor insight was likely due to their inability to detect or utilize information other than their self-perceptions. Implications for the conceptualization, measurement, and treatment of PDs are discussed.
Narcissists crave respect and admiration. Do they attain the status and popularity they crave, or do they just think that they do? In two studies (Ns = 133 and 94), participants completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, described themselves on core personality traits (e.g., extraversion), and were described by an informant on those traits. Participants also provided self- and peer ratings of status and liking in small groups after an initial meeting and over the course of 4 months (Study 2). Relative to people lower, people higher in narcissism initially attained, but eventually lost status; yet, they were aware that they tended to lose status. Narcissists were not especially popular, although they tended to think they were more popular. These patterns differed among narcissism facets, providing further support for the idea that the mixed adaptiveness of narcissism may be due to the heterogeneity of the construct.
Feeling accepted by others is a fundamental human motive and an important marker of successful social interactions. This interpersonal perception, known as meta-liking, is especially relevant during adolescence when peer relationships deepen and expand. However, knowledge is limited regarding meta-liking formation in initial social interactions. This study investigated whether adolescents (N = 293, Mage = 15.48, 61.10% female) have default expectations for meta-liking at zero-acquaintance and how these judgments are updated during initial group interactions. Specifically, we used latent change models to examine how personality traits predicted initial meta-liking and whether personality and social interaction experiences were linked to changes in meta-liking judgments throughout an interaction. Our findings revealed three key insights: First, meta-liking increased gradually over the course of the interaction, with substantial individual differences in both default meta-liking and change scores. Second, extraversion, neuroticism, and self-esteem predicted initial meta-liking. Third, liking others was also linked to initial meta-liking and early changes, while meta-liking changes toward the end of the interaction occurred independent of all these features and were not predicted by expressive behaviors of interaction partners. This study represents a first empirical test of default expectations and updates in meta-liking based on personality characteristics and social interaction experiences in initial social interactions. We discuss our results in terms of a broader framework for understanding how metaperceptions are formed and updated early in the acquaintance process.
Abstract Objective People differ in how positively they tend to see others' traits, but people might also differ in how strongly they apply their perceptual styles. In two studies ( Ns = 355, 303), the current research explores individual differences in how variable people's first impressions are across targets (i.e., within‐person variability), how and why these differences emerge, and who varies more in their judgments of others. Method Participants described themselves on personality measures and rated 30 (Study 1) or 90 (Study 2) targets on Big Five traits. Results Using the extended Social Relations Model (eSRM), results suggest that within‐person variability in impressions is consistent across trait ratings. People lower in extraversion, narcissism and self‐esteem tended to make distinctions across targets' Big Five traits that were more consistent with other perceivers (sensitivity). Furthermore, some people more than others tended to consistently make unique distinctions among targets (differentiation), and preliminary evidence suggests these people might be higher in social anxiety and lower in self‐esteem and emotional stability. Conclusion Overall then, a more complete account of person perception should consider individual differences in how variable people's impressions are of others.
