ABSTRACT
Our first task will be to study the processes whereby the ordinary man judges the personalities of those he meets. What theories of personality does he assume, and how can we account for his successes and his failures? This topic received comparatively little attention until the post-war years. In the 1920's and 30's psychologists were more concerned with the reliability and accuracy of the interview, of ratings or of judgments of expressions. And they demonstrated repeatedly the fallibility and bias of our judgments of ourselves and others. Much ingenuity, also, went into investigations of the characteristics of the ‘good’ or ‘poor’ judge of personality (cf. Chap. 4). However, in the 1950's there began a spate of publications on how we judge, under the headings ‘person perception’ or ‘social perception’. The suitability of these terms might be queried in so far as we interpret, judge, analyse and evaluate, over and above seeing or perceiving people's characteristics. It is not only in Britain that the problem was neglected until fairly recently. * Its popularization in America was due largely to immigrants from Europe, including Heider and Ichheiser, W. Wolff and Arnheim, and the leading Gestalt psychologists.
