Strangers in a Strange Lab: How Personality Shapes Our Initial Encounters with OthersWinner of the 2012 International Association for Relationship Research Book Award Can we predict how well or how poorly two strangers will get along? According to social psychologist William Ickes, the answer is yes. Drawing upon relevant research findings from his 30 year career, Ickes explains how initial interactions are shaped by gender, race, birth order, physical attractiveness, androgyny, the Big Five dimensions, shyness, and self monitoring.