Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- Part I Research on interpersonal expectations
- 3 Introduction to research on interpersonal expectations
- 4 Interpersonal expectations in the courtroom: Studying judges' and juries' behavior
- 5 Expectancies and the perpetuation of racial inequity
- 6 Pygmalion - 25 years after interpersonal expectations in the classroom
- 7 Interpersonal expectations in organizations
- 8 Interpersonal expectations and the maintenance of health
- 9 Precursors of interpersonal expectations: The vocal and physical attractiveness stereotypes
- 10 In search of a social fact: A commentary on the study of interpersonal expectations
- Part II Research on the mediation of interpersonal expectations through nonverbal behavior
- Part III The study of interpersonal expectations
- Author index
- Subject index
- Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction
10 - In search of a social fact: A commentary on the study of interpersonal expectations
from Part I - Research on interpersonal expectations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- Part I Research on interpersonal expectations
- 3 Introduction to research on interpersonal expectations
- 4 Interpersonal expectations in the courtroom: Studying judges' and juries' behavior
- 5 Expectancies and the perpetuation of racial inequity
- 6 Pygmalion - 25 years after interpersonal expectations in the classroom
- 7 Interpersonal expectations in organizations
- 8 Interpersonal expectations and the maintenance of health
- 9 Precursors of interpersonal expectations: The vocal and physical attractiveness stereotypes
- 10 In search of a social fact: A commentary on the study of interpersonal expectations
- Part II Research on the mediation of interpersonal expectations through nonverbal behavior
- Part III The study of interpersonal expectations
- Author index
- Subject index
- Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction
Summary
The expectations of one person influence the behavior of another, typically in a confirming direction. I would like to make three points about this statement. First, I argue that no other single hypothesis better captures the essence and spirit of social psychology. Second, I consider reasons why the expectation hypothesis has generated such an enormous amount of research across seemingly diverse fields. Third, I contend that the expectancy hypothesis is not a hypothesis at all but is rather a social fact, and a scientifically proven one at that.
The quintessential social hypothesis
According to Gordon Allport (1985), social psychology is the study of “how the thought, feeling, and behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others” (p. 3). One would be hard pressed to find a topic more archetypal of social psychology than interpersonal expectancy effects. Mind is the instigator of the expectancy process, yet the phenomenon itself involves some transfer between persons. Anyone who has struggled to define the proper unit for the statistical analysis of an expectancy study has grappled with the true heart of social psychology (“Is the teacher my unit of analysis, or the teacher-student dyad? Perhaps it is the number of classrooms that dictates my degrees of freedom?”).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Interpersonal ExpectationsTheory, Research and Applications, pp. 218 - 224Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1993