Although researchers have begun to uncover the processes by which interpersonal expectations affect general interactions. it is not clear if or how expectations operate amongst buyers and sellers. The present research explores interpersonal expectancy effects in an effort to understand the behavioral and psychological processes inherent in exchange relations as well as the effects of interpersonal expectations in the context of face-to-face meetings between buyers and sellers.

Interpersonal expectancy effects relate to how one individual's expectations influence another individual's behavior. These effects have been studied by social scientists for almost three decades in many different social contexts and are a significant phenomenon in human interaction. Interpersonal expectancy effects are one form of the more common notion of self-fulfilling prophecy. First, a person has an unsubstantiated belief that a certain event will occur in the future. Second, this belief, expectation, or prophecy leads to some new behavior consistent with the originally false conception and that would not have occurred were it not for the expectation. Third, the expected event occurs, fulfilling the prophecy. In the case of interpersonal expectancy effects, this "expected event" corresponds to another individual's actions or behavior. Although perceiver perceptions and cognitions are potentially critical elements of the self fulfilling prophecy process, the change in target behavior or self-concept is essential to demonstrating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Analyses of observer judges' ratings of participants' behavior revealed that men who believed they were interacting with a physically attractive woman behaved in a warmer and friendlier manner compared with men who believed they were interacting with an unattractive woman.