Peer Report Methods

Peer reports are descriptions of target individuals' thoughts, feelings, motives, or behaviors. A strict definition of the term peer report refers to raters who are similar in age, grade, or status to the target individual. However, many researchers use the term more generally to refer to friends, lovers, coworkers, teachers, or anyone who regularly observes a target in naturally occurring social situations. Peer reports are particularly useful when they are obtained from individuals who are well acquainted with a target and have observed him or her in numerous and varying situations. These sorts of reports are useful in describing a target's behavioral tendencies and predicting future behavior. Peer reports may also be useful when obtained from individuals who possess limited but specific knowledge about a target individual. Peer reports of this type are represented by a professor's evaluation of a prospective graduate student or a boss's performance evaluation of a subordinate.

Researchers use peer reports as a source of data to describe the personality, social, and cognitive characteristics of target individuals. They are a valid alternative to self-reports, which frequently suffer from biases such as self-aggrandizement, self-derogation, or repression. Peer reports may exhibit some limitations of their own, typically due to insufficient information or faulty judgments. However, when they are obtained from individuals for whom accuracy is important, such as lovers, friends, or coworkers, peer reports are a source of information that provide incremental validity beyond self-report measures.

Some researchers argue that the beliefs that peers hold represent more than a simple reflection of targets' behavior. They argue that peer beliefs actually influence the development of targets' personality characteristics. This perspective, commonly referred to as the Looking Glass Self, suggests that target individuals (a) observe how friends and family members respond to their social behavior, (b) internalize these reactions, and (c) develop a sense of self based on these internalized perceptions. Although researchers might debate the importance of this process in the development of the self, it is another indication that peers' perceptions of target individuals play an important role in understanding target characteristics.