A Theory of Second-Order Expectations and Behavior

Social psychologists recognize that what we think others expect can affect our own expectations and behavior. To date, however no theoretical explanation has fully integrated the effects of others' (second-order) expectations with the much more clearly understood effects of actors' own (first-order) expectations. We propose a theoretical extension and a corresponding mathematical model that incorporate effects of second-order expectations. We believe that these second-order expectations affect actors' expectation states and the power and prestige structure of groups, but that the magnitude of those effects depends on the status structure of the group. We outline possible variant ways in which second-order expectations function, and propose a design for a differentiating experiment to assist further theory development.