ABSTRACT
Cahn and Shulman defined perceived understanding or misunderstanding as a “communicator’s assessment of his/her success of failure when attempting to communicate with another person”. Cahn and Shulman reported a test-retest reliability of.90 and a Cronbach alpha of.89 for the State version. Research indicates some evidence of concurrent validity. There is also evidence of criterion-related validity. One study found that perceived understanding was an important predictor of student evaluations of teachers. This is a relatively underused instrument, but one with potential. The instrument may be useful in both researching and counseling marital and other close dyads. As Laing, Phillipson, and Lee originally conceptualized the construct, feelings of being understood or misunderstood arise when there is a discrepancy between one’s meta-metaperspective and one’s own direct perspective of a situation or relationship.
