[1][2][3] The 2018 Psychological Science study which coined the term "liking gap" explored people's interactions in various scenarios: strangers meeting for the first time in a laboratory setting, members of the general public getting to know each other during a personal development workshop, and first-year college students living with a dormmate for one academic year.
[1] In all three scenarios, participants consistently self-assessed as less liked by the other person than they actually were.
[1] The gap was shown to be present in short, medium, and long conversations among strangers.
[1] In students, the liking gap persisted nearly the entire duration of the study before suddenly closing at the end – possibly indicating that dormmates had directly discussed interpersonal compatibility to decide whether they should share a dorm the next year.
[4][5] However, there is evidence that people tend to exhibit self-criticism when thinking about their own interactions with others.