Research suggests that first- and third-person perceptions are driven by the motive to self-enhance and cognitive processes involving the perception of social norms. This article proposes and tests a dual-process model that predicts an interaction between cognition and motivation. Consistent with the model, Experiment 1 (N = 112) showed that…

The public expression of opinions (and related communicative activities) hinges upon the perception of opinion consensus. Current explanations for opinion consensus perceptions typically focus on egocentric and other biases, rather than functional cognitions. Using self-categorization theory we showed that opinion consensus perceptions flow from…

An experiment tested a theoretical framework for goal detection in dyadic interactions of close friends and unacquainted strangers wherein one conversationalist pursued a goal unbeknownst to a detector. The extent to which pursuers' conversation goal was cognitively associated with the dyad's relational type was manipulated. As hypothesized,…