David Funder: UC Riverside Dept. of Psychology

The Realistic Accuracy Model (RAM) describes the four stage, social-behavioral process necessary for the achievement of accuracy in personality judgment. A judgmental target must emit (1) relevant information in a context where it is (2) available to the judge, who must then (3) detect and correctly (4) utilize this information. This model implies that accuracy is a difficult attainment, and yet useful levels of accuracy are routinely observed, which suggests there may be a sort of instinct for personality judgment, akin to the “language instinct,” that allows the cognitive system to go beyond the information given.
http://www.bec.ucla.edu/papers/Funder_6-7-04.pdf