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

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Daniel Leising
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: from 2005 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 20046501

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.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professor Leonard Horowitz