If you agree with me, it must be true”
Social verification creates shared reality and consolidates impressions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9006552 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Matteo Masi (0000-0001-6436-1663, University of Münster, corresponding author), Gerrit Lamers (University of Münster), Gerald Echterhoff (0000-0002-7395-5313, University of Münster) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 124 |
| Pages | 104887-104887 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-02 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-1031 • E-ISSN: 1096-0465 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.jesp.2026.104887 |
| OpenAlex | W7127142969 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 51 |
A scarcely studied route to shared reality is the social verification of one's impressions, a process that should promote impression consolidation. We tested this prediction across four experiments ( N = 1342) using a hiring-decision paradigm. Participants evaluated pairs of similarly qualified applicants based on brief descriptions and portrait photos, made hiring decisions alongside a fictitious partner, and received either verification or no verification of their choices. Impression consolidation was assessed via subsequent speeded trait attributions. We expected stronger consolidation following verification, reflected in greater evaluative choice-consistency (i.e., attributing more positive traits to chosen than unchosen applicants), indexed by signal detection theory's discriminability, as well as increased accessibility (response latencies). Participants also reported experienced shared reality with the partner. Across studies, social verification reliably increased experienced shared reality and choice-consistent discriminability. Accessibility effects, in contrast, were inconsistent and context-dependent. Experiment 3 showed that verification enhanced choice-consistent discriminability only for recruitment-relevant traits. Experiment 4 showed no trait-specific consolidation for explicit, implied, or unrelated profile traits beyond evaluative choice-consistency. Moreover, across studies, experienced shared reality was positively associated with choice-consistent discriminability, but not with accessibility. Together, these findings indicate that social verification selectively consolidates impressions by stabilizing their evaluative structure—particularly on relevant domains—rather than by uniformly enhancing accessibility. Therefore, our results showed that even brief verification from an unfamiliar partner can strengthen shared reality and reinforce impressions primarily through increased evaluative consistency. Implications for impression formation and motivated cognition are discussed. • Shared reality (SR) reduces uncertainty about one's judgments and impressions. • We tested whether social verification boosts SR and strengthens impressions. • In a collaborative hiring task, SR increased when peers verified decisions. • Verification increased evaluative choice-consistency in trait attributions. • Social verification and SR can shape social cognition and judgments
Consolidation (business · Impression · Impression formation · Impression management · Precedent · Social perception · Social reality · Trait · Action Observation and Synchronization · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Personality Traits and Psychology
Social Attributions from Faces
The psycho Package
Person memory and judgment.
MorePower 6.0 for Anova with relational confidence intervals and Bayesian analysis
Effectsize
Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1
Evaluating Effect Size in Psychological Research
LmerTest Package
Toward a General Framework of Biased Reasoning
Shared Reality
Cognitive tuning as a factor affecting impression formation1
Positive emotion enhances association-memory
Creating shared reality in interpersonal and intergroup communication
Evidence of the Properties of an Ambiguity Tolerance Measure
The role of target‐specific shared reality in interpersonal interactions and protective health behaviours
Attitudinal effects of mere exposure
Context-dependent learning in social interaction
Social validation and interpersonal evaluations
Cognitive consistency and the formation of interpersonal attitudes
The “false consensus effect”
Audience tuning effects on communicators’ memory
Unpacking attitude certainty
Spontaneous evaluative inferences and their relationship to spontaneous trait inferences
Thinking is for doing
In it together
Spontaneous trait inferences are bound to actors' faces
Merged minds
Motives for social comparison
Trait impressions from faces depend on the goals of the perceiver
The process of cognitive tuning in communication
Postdecision changes in the desirability of alternatives
Forming impressions of personality
Achieving 'Shared Reality' in the Communication Game
The Development of Shared Stereotypic Impressions in Conversation
Development and Validation of an Internationally Reliable Short-Form of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Panas)
| Highly cited | No |
|---|