Editorial: A field guide to people-watching

More than just a means of whiling away a lazy afternoon in the park, people-watching is central to our social existence. We watch others to glean information about who they are, what they like, how they feel, and how much we think we would like them (or not). We use cues as varied as facial expressions, humor attempts, and purchase decisions to draw conclusions about others' emotions, status, and preferences. Sometimes these observations allow people to form accurate judgments of others; other times, they can lead people astray, prone to misattributing others’ motives and behavior. And yet regardless of accuracy, these inferences have the potential to meaningfully change the ways in which people interact with and orient themselves toward others.

Given the importance of our social sense-making, this special issue explores the interpersonal perceptions and predictions that people make about one another. The collection of articles is divided into two parts. The first part summarizes research on perception formation: What are the factors and cues that shape our inferences of others’ traits, behaviors, and attitudes? The second part examines the applied implications of these perceptions: How do the social inferences we make affect interpersonal interactions across diverse contexts, such as charitable giving, medical decision-making, and advice-giving? Together, the collection elevates the age-old pastime of people-watching and provides novel insight into the ways in which people observe and perceive one another.