Consensus, self-other agreement, and accuracy in personality judgment: an introduction

Abstract

Consensus in personality judgment refers to the agreement with which two people (or more) can describe the personality of another; self-other agreement refers to the similarity between personality descriptions by the self and by others; and accuracy refers to the degree to which personality descriptions capture real attributes of the persons described. After years of focusing on other subjects, researchers recently have renewed their interest in these three topics. Current empirical research is philosophically diverse and includes studies incorporating pragmatic, constructivist, and realist approaches. Other research is resolving long-standing methodological problems and providing new analytic techniques for the study of consensus, self-other agreement, and accuracy. This special issue includes articles exemplifying all of these research approaches and documents that a new wave of research on consensus, self-other agreement, and accuracy in personality judgment now comprises a burgeoning field that has finally come of age.