In social interactions, people must pay attention to many behavioral events unfolding in themselves and the other person-events that can be observable or unobservable, intentional or unintentional. Three studies explored how people distribute their attention to these different event types and, as a result, build up representations of self and partner during the interaction. Relying on basic principles of attention , the authors predict 2 actor-observer gaps: Actors pay more attention to

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... able events and less to observable events than observers; and actors pay more attention to unintentional events and less to intentional events than observers. Study 1 documents both gaps. Studies 2 and 3 explore factors that might close the gaps, such as relational intimacy and empathy. Implications of these results for the role of attention in attribution and interpersonal behavior are discussed.