Abstract
University students often experience high levels of stress and, in some cases, the stress leads to tragic outcomes. An important question is whether roommates can perceive the level and change in distress in their peers. We examined self- and other-reports of 187 same-sex undergraduate dyads at two times in a spring semester. Using the truth and bias model, we found that roommates tended to underestimate their partner’s distress at both time points, and that ratings were equally influenced by truth and self-focus bias forces. For change, however, there was no evidence of directional (average) bias, and perceived change was only significantly related to the truth force. There were no consistent moderation effects by closeness or gender. These findings are interpreted in the context of person perception theory and the practical need for early warning about extreme distress in college students.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 899-913 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 1 2018 |
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Keywords
- affect monitoring
- distress change
- person perception
- roommate relationships
- truth and bias
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
Cite this
Accuracy and Bias in Perception of Distress Level and Distress Change Among Same-Sex College Student Roommate Dyads. / Xu, Qi; Shrout, Patrick.
In: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 44, No. 6, 01.06.2018, p. 899-913.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Accuracy and Bias in Perception of Distress Level and Distress Change Among Same-Sex College Student Roommate Dyads
AU - Xu, Qi
AU - Shrout, Patrick
PY - 2018/6/1
Y1 - 2018/6/1
N2 - University students often experience high levels of stress and, in some cases, the stress leads to tragic outcomes. An important question is whether roommates can perceive the level and change in distress in their peers. We examined self- and other-reports of 187 same-sex undergraduate dyads at two times in a spring semester. Using the truth and bias model, we found that roommates tended to underestimate their partner’s distress at both time points, and that ratings were equally influenced by truth and self-focus bias forces. For change, however, there was no evidence of directional (average) bias, and perceived change was only significantly related to the truth force. There were no consistent moderation effects by closeness or gender. These findings are interpreted in the context of person perception theory and the practical need for early warning about extreme distress in college students.
AB - University students often experience high levels of stress and, in some cases, the stress leads to tragic outcomes. An important question is whether roommates can perceive the level and change in distress in their peers. We examined self- and other-reports of 187 same-sex undergraduate dyads at two times in a spring semester. Using the truth and bias model, we found that roommates tended to underestimate their partner’s distress at both time points, and that ratings were equally influenced by truth and self-focus bias forces. For change, however, there was no evidence of directional (average) bias, and perceived change was only significantly related to the truth force. There were no consistent moderation effects by closeness or gender. These findings are interpreted in the context of person perception theory and the practical need for early warning about extreme distress in college students.
KW - affect monitoring
KW - distress change
KW - person perception
KW - roommate relationships
KW - truth and bias
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85046790557&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85046790557&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0146167217754192
DO - 10.1177/0146167217754192
M3 - Article
C2 - 29457752
AN - SCOPUS:85046790557
VL - 44
SP - 899
EP - 913
JO - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
JF - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
SN - 0146-1672
IS - 6
ER -