Abstract
The purpose of this report is to make clear the influence of the two different interpersonal attitudes (i.e., more “introjective” feeling and more “projective” one) upon the other member's interpersonal cognitive structure, especially from the viewpoint of the transparency of the interpersonal attitudes, with the intention of studying the property of the interpersonal cognitive structure. The raw sociometric data for this study were obtained by requiring each subject to rate all of his classmates on a 5-point scale in terms of acceptability as friends, and to predict how each of his calssmates would rate him, The relationships between the transparency and (a) the psychological meanings of the interpersonal preference held by the ratee towards the rater (the factor of stimulus), and (b) the perceptual tendency of the rater to perceive the ratee's feelings towards the rater as congruent with his feelings towards the ratee (the factor of response) were examined in 8 groups. The main results are as follows:
1) The relationships between the transparency of the interpersonal preference and the sociometric status of the S perceived (rated) are not simple but complex. The positive feeling of high status persons tends to be more transparent than that of low status persons, whereas the negative feeling of low status persons tends to be more transparent than that of high status persons.
2) The main determinants of the transparency of the interpersonal preference described above are the stimulus value of the interpersonal preference held by the person perceived and the response tendency of the perceiver, as explained below.
3) The differences of the stimulus value between the introjective feeling and the projective one in the interpersonal cognitive structure determine the transparency of the interpersonal preferences. The positive feeling that a person of higher status holds towards another person is more transparent, because this feeling is more introjective in comparison with more projective one that a person of lower status holds, whereas the negative feeling that a person of lower status holds towards another person is more transparent, because this feeling is more introjective in comparison with more projective one that a person of higher status holds. Regardless of the direction of the interpersonal preferences (i.e., positive or negative feeling), the introjective feeling is more transparent than the projective one.
4) The perceptual tendency mentioned in (b), determines the “phenomenal” transparency of the interpersonal preferences. The positive feeling of high status persons, who are more frequently chosen, is more transparent than that of low status persons, while the negative feeling of low status persons, who are more frequently rejected, is more transparent than that of high status persons, because these feelings are perceived not reflexively but creatively by the perceivers on the basis of the abovementioned perceptual tendency.
5) The congruent responses (responses which show the congruency between the interpersonal preference and its perception) are more frequent under the conditions of mutuality (similarity of feelings between the members of a dyad) than under the conditions of non-mutuality, and the incongruent responses are more frequent under the conditions of non-mutuality than under the conditions of mutuality. This rule also suggests the regularity in the mode of influence of the two different responses (i.e., congruent responses and incongruent responses) upon the other member's interpersonal cognitive structure. That is to say, the congruent responses are different from the incongruent ones not only in the psychological meanings as the stimulus value but also in the functions as the preference cue.
6) The factor of the sociometric status determines the similarity or dissimilarity of feelings between the members of a dyad as well as the cognitive interaction
