Original Article The Effects of Judge-Target Gender and Ethnicity Similarity on the Accuracy of Personality Judgments Tera D. Letzring Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, USA Abstract. One factor that may affect the accuracy of personality judgment is the level of similarity between the judge and the target. In the current study, judges observed four targets with different levels of gender and ethnicity (GE) similarity (same gender and ethnicity, only same gender, only same ethnicity, different gender and ethnicity). Judge-target GE similarity was positively related to the accuracy of personality judgment among female judges, but not among male judges. It was also found that females were both more accurate judges and more accurately judged, but that the combination of both a female judge and a female target only had an additive effect on accuracy. Projection was also related to accuracy. These findings suggest that among the several factors that can be used to predict accuracy, judge-target similarity, gender of the judge, gender of the target, and projection of the judge’s personality onto the target are important. Keywords: judgmental accuracy, personality judgment, similarity, gender, ethnicity Introduction Making judgments of personality is something we do every day, often with important consequences. For example, deci- sions about whom one should marry or allow to care for one’s children are based partly on judgments of personality. If the factors that influence the accuracy of these judgments can be determined, then we may be able to help people better iden- tify when they are more likely to make accurate judgments – as well as good decisions based on those judgments. One factor that might influence this process is the similarity be- tween the person making the judgment and the person being judged. The main goal of the current project was to examine whether accuracy of personality judgment is higher when judges are more similar to the target in terms of two objective and easily visible criteria: gender and ethnicity. One model for explaining how accurate judgment of per- sonality is possible is the realistic accuracy model (RAM; Funder, 1995, 1999). RAM describes four behavioral and cognitive processes that must be successfully completed for an accurate judgment to be attained. According to RAM, ac- curacy becomes possible when the target emits relevant and available personality cues that are detected and appropriately utilized by the judge. The four stages – relevance, availabil- ity, detection, and utilization – must all be successful for mak- ing an accurate judgment. For example, for a judge to rate a target’s friendliness, the target must do something relevant to friendliness (smile at a stranger), so that the behavior is avail- able to the judge (the judge and the target are in the same situation). Then, the judge must detect the cue and use it appropriately to judge the target as friendly. An alternative method for attaining accurate judgments bypasses this pro- cess and instead involves the projection of one’s own person- ality onto the target. However, this strategy is effective only when the judge and the target have similar personalities; suc- cessful completion of the stages of RAM, on the other hand, result in accurate judgments regardless of the personality similarity of the target and judge. In addition to the stages of accuracy, research has fo- cused on four moderators of accuracy (Funder, 1995, 1999). Good judges of personality are socially skilled, agreeable, and well-adjusted (Letzring, 2005, 2008); good targets are extraverted, agreeable, conscientious, emotion- ally stable, psychologically adjusted, and exhibit more pos- itive behaviors (Colvin, 1993). Good traits are visible, non- evaluative, and occur frequently (Funder, 1999; Funder & Dobroth, 1987). Good information is of greater quantity and relevance to personality (Blackman & Funder, 1998; Letzring, Wells, & Funder, 2006). Judge-Target Similarity The idea that the ability to accurately judge personality is related to the level of similarity between the judge and the target is not new (Allport, 1937; Taft, 1955), and evidence suggests that similarity is related to accuracy and consensus. For example, judges who had personalities more similar to DOI 10.1027/1864-9335/a000007 Social Psychology 2010; Vol. 41(1):42–51 © 2010 Hogrefe Publishing