In first interactions, people reported liking the other person more than they thought they were liked in return. In fact, the other person liked them more than they anticipated. (Successful large-scale replication).
Recently, a liking gap has been identified, which is the tendency for people to underestimate how much a new acquaintance likes them. The goal of this research is to examine the robustness of the liking gap(s) phenomenon, by providing data on perceived and actual liking gaps from relevant measures of liking collected. The sample for this study was very large (>1,800 young adults) and multiple variations of a getting-acquainted study were conducted.
Supporting prior research, liking gaps were found with a very large sample of young adults engaged in getting-acquainted conversations. On average, the participants reported liking their conversation partner more than they believed that they were liked in return (perceived liking gap). Sample-mean comparisons likewise indicated that participants’ estimate of being liked was lower than that of their interaction partner’s reported liking for them (actual liking gap).
There are many explanations for people’s miscalibrated judgments of how much they are liked in first conversations. People may be focused on their own thoughts and therefore miss cues of friendliness and affiliation from the other. As part of being too self-critical about their own competence in initial interactions, people also may underestimate how positively others react to them.
Although the liking gap is typically presented as evidence of being self-critical, it could also reflect a positive view of self – viewing oneself as someone who likes others (more than do others in an initial interaction).
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