Metaperception of self -concept and personality by same-sex friend and nonfriend adolescents

Research on metaperception, the process by which people judge what others think of them, can clarify how significant others influence adolescents\u27 self-definitions. To assess adolescents\u27 accuracy in judging what their classmates know about their self-concepts and personality, 156 adolescents were paired with either a friend (39 pairs) or a nonfriend (39 pairs). Then they answered questions about their self-concepts and personality, their views of their partners\u27 self-concepts and personality, and their perceptions of their partners\u27 views of them. The sample was approximately evenly divided between 8th and 11th graders and between boys and girls. The measure of metaperception was created by taking the difference between the students\u27 views of what their partners thought of them and their partners\u27 views of their self-concepts and personality. Contrary to hypothesis, friends did not have more accurate metaperceptionl than nonfriends for either self-concepts or personality. Eleventh graders had more accurate metaperception of the social acceptance domain of self-concept than eighth graders did. Boys had more accurate metaperception of their partners for tire scholastic competence domain of self-concept than girls did. It was suggested that there are at least three explanations for the lack of an advantage for friends in metaperception of self-concept and personality. First, information about adolescents\u27 self-concept and personality might be equally available to both friends and nonfriends. Second, it is possible that all others in an adolescents\u27 environment are sources of information about the self. Finally, it is possible that adolescents have inaccurate perceptions about what their friends think of them, and that they internalize these inaccurate views when forming their views about themselves. Suggestions for future research were also discussed