Interpersonal engagement in social perception: The consequences of getting into the action.

This study examined the effects on person perception of varying levels of observer-actor engagement. Subjects observed a male actor (confederate) responding tointerview questions on a prerecorded videotape under three conditions of inter-personal engagement. Subjects in a detachment condition knew that they weresimply observing a tape; subjects in an anticipated interaction condition knewthat they were observing a tape but expected to interact subsequently with theactor; subjects in an actual interaction condition thought that they were inter-acting with the actor over a video hook-up. Half of the subjects in these conditionsobserved the actor preface his responses with a positive comment regarding theinterviewer's question (positive actor); the other half observed the actor prefacehis responses with a negative comment (negative actor). It was predicted thatanticipated interaction observers would demonstrate hopefulness by attributingthe positive actor's behavior dispositionally and the negative actor's behaviorsituationally but that actual interaction observers would show the opposite causalattribution pattern in an attempt to protect or enhance their own self-esteem.Results confirmed these predictions. Trait inference and attraction, however,were primarily affected by the actor affect manipulation. Discussion centers onthe different manifestations of observer self-concern in social contexts and onthe conceptual independence among person-perception variables.