Vasiliki Kentrou

This talk will provide an overview of four projects examining personality perception and interpersonal dynamics in (newly-formed) groups using the Social Relations Model (SRM). The SRM is a statistical framework that separates interpersonal judgments into target, perceiver, and relationship effects, allowing us to disentangle the different sources of variance underlying personality perceptions. The first project synthesized existing research applying the SRM to the study of personality perception. This review summarizes key findings regarding the magnitude and stability of SRM variance components across personality traits, levels of acquaintance, and research contexts, while highlighting the theoretical importance of relationship effects and outlining directions for future research. The second project examined collaborative partner preferences in previously-unacquainted interaction partners. Using a round-robin design, this study investigated how impressions of extraversion, honesty-humility, and competence shape individuals’ preferences for collaborative partners across successive interaction phases. Results indicate that individuals who were consistently perceived as extraverted and competent were more likely to be preferred as collaborators, while dyad-specific impressions of honesty-humility and competence also uniquely predicted partner preferences. The third project examined sources of influence in collective decision-making. In newly-formed groups performing problem-solving tasks, extraversion and expertise both emerged as positive predictors of the extent to which individual group members influenced the group’s final decision. Finally, an ongoing meta-analysis synthesizes studies using the SRM to examine personality perception. This project aims to quantify the magnitude of SRM variance components across traits and tests moderators such as acquaintance type and length, group characteristics, and methods of personality assessment. Together, these projects provide complementary insights into how personality perceptions emerge in social interactions and how they shape partner selection, influence, and collaboration in group settings.