Testing the State and Trait Accuracy Model: Links between Accuracy of Judging Affect and Accuracy of Judging Traits

决策是一个过程，是人们个人和职业生活中必不可少的，但也是具有挑战性的方面。关于另一个人的重要决定往往是基于第一印象。印象可以包括一个人在那个时刻的情绪状态，或“情感”，以及这个人通常是如何思考和行动的：他或她的个性特征。做出准确的判断对人们采取的行动有着至关重要的影响。判断一个人的情绪是积极的还是消极的，可以让人们决定当时是接近还是回避是最好的。准确地判断性格特征对社交生活中的“谁”和“如何”是有用的。人们根据心中的目标来决定接近谁，并预测这种互动可能会如何展开。在各种情况下做出好的决定可能会导致高质量的关系或合作，并避免消极的关系或合作。反过来，这可能会提高幸福感、员工满意度和生产率。尽管准确地判断情感和稳定的特质对于做出高质量的决定至关重要，但研究人员已经开发了这两种判断的相互独立的模型。目前的项目提供了这些研究领域的创新合并，产生了一个跨这些判断领域的准确性可能如何相关的模型。研究人员将在四个实验中测试新开发的状态和特征准确性模型。此外，该项目还为本科生和研究生提供了研究机会，并为小学学生提供了参与科学的机会。这个项目测试了两个假设，即人们在判断情感和特征时的准确性的关系和因果方向。状态和特质准确性模型预测了这些判断之间的正相关关系，并进一步预测，对情感的判断先于对人格特质的准确判断。为了检验关于判断陌生人的准确性的假设，关键是要有显示真实情感和反应的刺激，而不是上演的或人为的情感展示。因此，参与该项目的三所大学的研究人员开发了一个经过验证的刺激数据库，其中包括个性特征和情绪状态已被评估的个人的录像带。在目前的项目中，实验将使用这些录像带的片段作为刺激，让观察者做出影响和特征判断。四个实验涉及操纵观察者的判断焦点，以及操纵情感和特质信息的有效性，要么是通过错误的标签，要么是通过自然的不一致。本科生和研究生将作为研究人员和参与者参与该项目，提供研究培训机会。当地小学的儿童将从他们学校提供的演示和研究设计经验中受益。这个项目的另一个好处是，通过三所北美大学的研究人员的合作，研究的基础设施得到了加强。此外，增加对如何更准确地判断情感状态和个性特征的理解可以使社会受益--这对人们日常生活和专业人士都很有用。例如，雇主能够更好地确定申请者和工作之间的匹配，可能会使美国经济受益。

Decision making is a process that is an essential, but challenging, aspect of people's personal and professional lives. Important decisions about another person are often based on first impressions. Impressions can include the emotional state a person is feeling at that moment, or "affect", and how that person generally thinks and acts: his or her personality traits. Making accurate judgments has vital effects on the actions people take. Judging that a person's affect is positive or negative allows people to decide whether approach or avoidance is best at that moment. Accurately judging traits is useful for the "who" and "how" of social living. People determine whom to approach with what goal in mind, and they anticipate how such interactions might unfold. Making good decisions in a variety of contexts is likely to lead to quality relationships or collaborations and avoidance of negative ones. This, in turn, may increase well-being, employee satisfaction, and productivity. Although accurately judging both affect and stable traits is crucial to making high quality decisions, researchers have developed models of these two kinds of judgments independent of each other. The current project provides an innovative merging of these areas of research, producing a model of how accuracy across these judgment areas may be related. The investigators will test the newly developed State and Trait Accuracy Model in four experiments. In addition, the project provides research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, and engagement in science for students in primary schools. This project tests two hypotheses about the relationship and causal direction of people's accuracy in judging affect and judging traits. The State and Trait Accuracy Model predicts a positive relationship between such judgments, and further predicts that judgments of affect precede accurate judgments of personality traits. To test hypotheses about the accuracy of judging strangers, it is essential to have stimuli that display genuine emotions and responses, rather than staged or artificial affective displays. Thus, researchers from the three universities involved in this project have developed a validated database of stimuli consisting of videotapes of individuals whose personality traits and emotional state have been assessed. In the current project, experiments will use segments of these videotapes as stimuli for observers to make affect and trait judgments. Four experiments involve manipulating observers' judgmental focus and manipulating the validity of affect and trait information, either by mislabeling or by natural incongruences. Undergraduate and graduate students will be involved as researchers and participants in the project, providing research training opportunities. Children in local primary schools will benefit by exposure to presentations and research design experiences provided in their schools. Another benefit of this project is that the infrastructure for research is enhanced via this collaboration of researchers at three North American universities. In addition, society can benefit from an increased understanding of how affective states and personality traits can be judged more accurately--something useful to people in daily life as well as to professionals. For instance, the U.S. economy may benefit from employers being better able to determine the fit between applicants and jobs.