A preliminary model for predicting success in conveying intended impressions will be tested. Seven communicative skills will be examined, including skill at conveying true affects, attitudes, and attributes, and skill at conveying dissimulated affects, attitudes, and attributes. The effect on communicative effectiveness of the importance of success, expectations for success, and perceived public scrutiny will be assessed separately for verbal and nonverbal communicative channels. Further, a set of studies will test the relative degree to which each of seven different verbal and nonverbal channels (or channel combinations) can be controlled, when attempts at control are directed specifically and deliberately on that channel. Finally, in a pair of exploratory studies, the communication of falsified impressions in everyday life will be examined. The frequency of deception, and the content, contexts, and consequences of deception will be investigated from the perspective of the deceiver. Effectiveness at communicating accurate and inaccurate impressions is an important component of many models of mental health, and has important implications regarding the dynamics of social interaction and social influence, and the construction and maintenance of social identities.
