Two of a kind: Perceptions of own and partner's attachment characteristics

Because it is universally relevant, and because it is formed in infancy, gi ving it a strong preconscious quality, attachment was chosen for a study of Allport's (1924) construct of social projection. Individuals in 301 dating couples rated themselves and their partners on each of four continuous att achment dimensions (i.e., security, dismissiveness, preoccupation, fearfuln ess). The individual's own rating on a particular dimension significantly p redicted the individual's perception of how the partner rated on the dimens ion, after controlling for the partner's self-rating on the dimension. Thus , people perceived their partners to be more similar to themselves than the y really were, demonstrating social projection. In general, the higher the degree of emotional intimacy was, the more social projection was demonstrat ed.