Do say “thank you”: verbal expressions of politeness and gratitude influence interpersonal perceptions

The current research investigates whether communities use ethnicity as a cue when forming personality impressions of others. Past research has shown that dress, smiling, hairstyle, and even facial symmetry of targets produce systematic differences in personality impressions across the domains of the Five Factor model of personality. We investigated whether the stated or apparent ethnicity of groups and individuals also produce stereotypic impressions of personality. This study compared impressions across members and non-members of the target groups and examined “cue utility” i.e. whether impressions of the groups agreed with aggregated self-impressions by group members. In all, the results clearly suggest that people utilize ethnicity as a cue when forming impressions of the personalities of groups and individuals, and although those impressions are exaggerated consistent with stereotype theory, they confer some utility in interpersonal perceptions across cultures. Stereotypes are a strategy used to interpret the complex social environment in the absence of more specific information. When that information is available, perceptions of others become more refined and accurate.

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Interpersonal Perceptions and Interviewer Effects in Face-to-Face Surveys

Sociological Methods & Research ◽

10.1177/0049124120926215 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 004912412092621

Author(s):

Simon Kühne

Keyword(s):

Survey Data ◽

Large Scale ◽

Survey Design ◽

Political Issues ◽

Interpersonal Perceptions ◽

Face To Face ◽

Interviewer Effects ◽

Self Reports ◽

And Training

Survey interviewers can negatively affect survey data by introducing variance and bias into estimates. When investigating these interviewer effects, research typically focuses on interviewer sociodemographics with only a few studies examining the effects of characteristics that are not directly visible such as interviewer attitudes, opinions, and personality. For the study at hand, self-reports of 1,212 respondents and 116 interviewers, as well as their interpersonal perceptions of each other, were collected in a large-scale, face-to-face survey of households in Germany. Respondents and interviewers were presented with the same questions regarding their opinions and mutual perceptions toward social and political issues in Germany. Analyses show that interviewer effects can be largely explained by how an interviewer is seen by respondents. This indicates that some respondents adjust their answers toward anticipated interviewer opinions. Survey practitioners ought to acknowledge this in their survey design and training of interviewers.

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