The systematic study of interpersonal expectations took root in 1956,when Robert Rosenthal set forth a hypothesis in his doctoral dissertation regarding a phenomenon he labeled unconscious experimenter bias. Rosenthal realized that prior discussions of experimenter bias had dealt with only the theoretical impact such biases may have on the designs of research questions and on the interpretation of results (Rosenthal, 1956, pp. 69-70; referenced in chapter 1, this volume). He wrote: “It is almost as though the Efxperimenters] were considered another [separate] instrument in his [sic] actual conduct of the research. … [I]t behooves us to check his calibration” (p. 70).

Now some 37 years later, this volume seeks to examine the “calibration” of interpersonal expectations in basic and applied research and in theory. Rosenthal's then-controversial research on the unintended interpersonal expectancy biases of psychological researchers was first presented formally at the meeting of the American Psychological Association in 1959. Since that time, published studies of interpersonal expectations, though increasing in number and scope, have heretofore not been brought together systematically in a single volume.

This volume provides innovative and critical reviews of the study of interpersonal expectations in three basic areas: (1) real-world applications of research on interpersonal expectations, (2) exploration of the mediation of interpersonal expectations through verbal and nonverbal behavior, and (3) discussion of emerging statistical and methodological techniques for understanding and studying interpersonal expectations.