Like yourself, and others will follow: The role of target self-esteem in the association between being seen accurately and being liked in platonic and romantic first impressions.

When meeting people for the first time, we often strive to perceive others and express our own personalities accurately. Does this benefit social connection by promoting greater perceiver liking of targets, or might it instead hinder liking for some targets and in some contexts? In the present studies, we examined whether the links between accuracy and perceiver liking differ as a function of target self-esteem across two first impression contexts: a speed-dating context ( = 378, = 4,797 dyads) and a platonic getting-acquainted context (exploratory sample: = 557, = 2,924 dyads; preregistered direct replication sample: = 306, = 1,683 dyads). In all samples and contexts, target self-esteem significantly moderated the association between accuracy and perceiver liking, such that accuracy was either positively related (platonic context) or unrelated (romantic context) to perceiver liking when targets were higher in self-esteem, yet accuracy was negatively related to perceiver liking when targets were lower in self-esteem, regardless of context.

Social Media Use Predicts Greater Liking in In-Person Initial Interactions.

Does how people generally engage with their online social networks relate to offline initial social interactions? Using a large-scale study of first impressions ( = 806, = 4,565), we examined how different indicators of social media use relate to the positivity of dyadic in-person first impressions, from the perspective of the participants and their interaction partners. Many forms of social media use (e.g.

Social anxiety and liking: Towards understanding the role of metaperceptions in first impressions.

A core component of social anxiety is the constant concern about what others think of the self. Could such metaperceptions-beliefs about how others view the self-play a role in relationship initiation attempts? In the present research, we examined whether metaperceptions may contribute to why people higher in social anxiety experience difficulties in initial interactions. In 2 first-impressions contexts, a platonic getting-acquainted context (Study 1: N = 544; 2,878 dyads) and a speed dating context (Study 2: N = 376; 4,797 dyads), we explored the roles of 2 components of metaperceptions: meta-positivity (i.

Blind at First Sight: The Role of Distinctively Accurate and Positive First Impressions in Romantic Interest.

Viewing other people with distinctive accuracy-the degree to which personality impressions correspond with targets' unique characteristics-often predicts positive interpersonal experiences, including liking and relationship satisfaction. Does this hold in the context of first dates, or might distinctive accuracy have negative links with romantic interest in such evaluative settings? We examined this question using two speed-dating samples (Sample 1: = 172, = 2,407 dyads; Sample 2: = 397, = 1,849 dyads). Not surprisingly, positive impressions of potential dating partners were strongly associated with greater romantic interest.