I Know How You Feel About Me Now: A Longitudinal Investigation of the Accuracy of Meta-Liking Judgments

Being liked and feeling included in social groups is important for one’s well-being and self-esteem. In addition, an accurate perception of one’s social relationship is a prerequisite for successfully managing social situations, especially in phases of social reorientation such as the first semester of university. The present, pre-registered research studies the longitudinal development of meta-liking accuracy and reciprocity in two cohorts of psychology freshmen ( N = 52 and N = 70) during the first semester of university. Our results indicate that students knew who specifically liked them and that this ability slightly increased from the first week to the end of the first semester. Furthermore, students expected to be and were indeed liked back when liking specific others. These findings provide an initial insight into the role of reciprocity for meta-liking accuracy and provide starting points for future research.