Sex Composition Disrupts the Accuracy of Women's Metaperceptions of Partners

The effects of sex composition of dyads and surrounding others in groups on the accuracy in women's expected evaluations (metaperceptions) were investigated using the Group Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (GAPIM). The dataset comprised 26 groups of four to six previously unacquainted participants who completed an unstructured social interaction followed by round-robin evaluations and metaperceptions on evaluative adjectives. Women expected less positive evaluations from opposite-sex partners, and this did not vary by the sex composition of surrounding others. However, women were less accurate in predictions of how they were evaluated by male partners (compared with female partners) if women were the majority in the surrounding group. Also, women formed less accurate metaperceptions of female partners when women were the minority, rather than the majority in the surrounding context. Implications for theory development in intergroup relations and contributions of the GAPIM to diversity research are discussed.