Does the fish see the water it swims in? How people with distincive interpersonal behavior perceive themselves and others in face-to-face interactions

有些人表现出非常独特和不灵活的人际行为。虽然这种行为往往会导致与他人的关系出现问题，但它往往会持续下去。对这种现象的一种可能的解释，即所谓的鱼和水假说，指的是人们如何解释人际行为的差异。更具体地说，它意味着人们系统地低估了他们最常表现出的行为的强度。在这里提出的项目中，这个假设将在支配和服从方面进行测试。第一步，我将确定三组，每组40名受试者。第一组将包含非常主导的主体，第二组将包含非常顺从的主体，第三组将包含平均主体。受试者将由住在同一学生宿舍的同龄人提名。在第二步中，受试者将在二人组中相互交流，共同解决问题。互动结束后，两名受试者将描述他们在互动过程中对自己和伴侣的看法。该设计非常适合彻底检验鱼和水假设是否有效。如果事实证明是这样，那么这将对有问题的人际行为的诊断和治疗产生重要影响。

Some people show very distinctive and unflexible kinds of interpersonal behavior. Although such behavior often leads to problems in relationships with others, it tends to persist. One possible explanation for this phenomenon, the so called Fish-and-Water hypothesis, refers to differences in how people interpret interpersonal behavior. More specifically, it implies that people systematically underestimate the intensity of those behaviors that they show most frequently. In the project proposed here, this hypothesis will be tested with regard to dominance and submissiveness. In a first step, I will identify three groups of 40 subjects each. The first group will contain very dominant subjects the second will contain very submissive subjects, the third will contain average subjects. Subjects will be nominated by their peers who live in the same student residency. In a second step, subjects will interact with each other in dyads, working on a joint problem solving task. After the interaction, both subjects will describe how they perceived themselves and their partner during the interaction. The design is well suited to thoroughly test if the Fish-and-Water hypothesis is valid. If that turned out to be the case, it would have important implications for the diagnostics and therapy of problematic interpersonal behavior.