ACCURACY IN INTERPERSONAL EXPECTATIONS - A REFLECTION-CONSTRUCTION ANALYSIS OF CURRENT AND CLASSIC RESEARCH

Research and theory on interpersonal expectations have been dominated by a strong social constructivist perspective arguing that expectancie s are often inaccurate and a major force in the creation of social rea lity. The reflection-construction model is an attempt to examine these strong claims conceptually and empirically. This model assumes that s ocial perception includes both constructivist phenomena and accuracy. When this model is used as a framework for interpreting research on te acher expectations and on the role of stereotypes in person perception , it shows that interpersonal expectancies are often accurate, and usu ally lead only to relatively small biases and self-fulfilling propheci es. The model also is used to interpret research on expectancies that has provided some of the foundations for the strong constructivist per spective. This reflection-construction analysis shows that even those studies strongly suggest that people's expectations generally will be highly accurate.