Assessing Perceptions of Interpersonal Behavior with a Video-Based Situational Judgment Test

Accurate appraisal of others’ behavior is critical for the production of skilled interpersonal behavior. We used an ecologically valid methodology, a video-based situational judgment test with true-false items, to assess the accuracy with which students (N = 947) perceive the interpersonal behavior of actors involved in workplace situations. Students also completed personality and cognitive measures, allowing for an examination of the individual difference correlates of behavioral perception skill. Results indicated that behavioral perception skill correlates strongly with mental ability, correlates weakly with openness to experience, and is unrelated to conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and agreeableness.