Detection occurs when the judge is able to recognize information and witness the behavior. The judge must be focused on the information in order to gain comprehensive knowledge of the target's behavior. 
Example: The judge must notice the behaviors and information relating to the trait of courage. If the judge was distracted or injured while the target was saving the child, they may have missed the behavior in action. If this occurs, then the detection stage is not complete and an accurate judgement cannot be made. 

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

The Realistic Accuracy Model explains how people accurately judge the personalities of people they know. All four stages of RAM must be complete for an accurate judgement to occur. 

The four stages of RAM:
-  Relevance 
-  Availability 
-  Detection
-  Utilization


Realistic Accuracy Model (RAM)

Funder, D. C. (2019). The personality puzzle. New York, NY: W. W. Norton &amp; Company.

The Personality Puzzle

Relevance in the RAM explains that information about the trait being judged must be directly related to that personality trait. Accurate judgements cannot be made if the behavior or situation does not correlate to the specific trait. 

Example: In order to judge courage in an individual, there must be a situation where the target is able to demonstrate (or fail to demonstrate) courage. This may occur when the target rushes into a burning building to save a child

Stage 1: Relevance

Availability explains how information/ behavior demonstrating the desired trait must be accessible by the judge. If behavior cannot be seen or directly observed, then the personality judgement will not be accurate. 
Example: If the judge witnesses the target saving a child from a fire, then that behavior becomes available for judgement. The judge is unable to assess courage if they are not aware of the act of courage demonstrated. 

Stage 2: Availability  

Stage 3: Detection

Utilization describes how a judge must use the information given to correctly interpret personality. The judge must remember what they witnessed and infer personality based on the information present in a situation. 
Example: The judge must be able to connect the trait courage to the act of rescuing the child. If the judge is able to infer that the rescue implies a large amount of courage, then this stage is complete and an accurate judgement has been made. 

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