Interpersonal sensitivity and self-knowledge: Those chronic for trustworthiness are more accurate at detecting it in others

Previous research has demonstrated that chronically accessible self-knowledge impacts how corresponding traits are perceived in oneself and in others. Although people perceive and judge others in line with their chronic traits, we know less about the accuracy of these judgments. In the current work, we explored whether chronicity results in greater accuracy in interpersonal sensitivity. Using a response time measure of attribute chronicity, we found that individuals for whom trustworthiness was a chronic trait were better able to distinguish cheaters from cooperators in a real life prisoner's dilemma game. Implications for how self-knowledge affects the accuracy of social perceptions are discussed. (c) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.