Two questions were examined with a sample of preschool children: (a) What is the relation between emotion production behavior and classroom social behavior?; and (b) Does familiarity with a child affect the perception of emotion expressions and the relations between emotion expressions and social behavior? Two theoretical perspectives on the 'eye of the beholder' ( familiarity) were evaluated: reputation bias and generalized effects. Sixty-eight (55% female) children were photographed posing emotion expressions (e.g., happy, sad, and angry). Expressions were rated by classmates, peer strangers, and adults. Classmates and teachers evaluated social behavior. Analyses indicated that children who were more negative and dependent had angry production biases and were likely to display happy expressions instead of sad. Results support the reputation bias and generalized familiarity theories.The relation between children's social competence and nonverbal behavior, especially emotion production (expression) and recognition, has received a great deal of attention (e.g., special issues in 1994 in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior and MerrillPalmer Quarterly). Few studies have included preschoolers, and a consistent association between emotion production accuracy and social behavior has not been found for this age group. This weak association might be explained by considering emotion production biases and the familiarity between a rater and the producer of the expression.An emotion production bias is a tendency to appear to be expressing a single emotion expression across a variety of settings, for example, appearing angry not only in situations that typically evoke anger expressions, but also in situations when most other children would express sadness or happiness. Those familiar with a child might be aware of these tendencies, leading to more accurate interpretations of emotion expressions, or alternatively leading to biased interpretations that fit pre-existing beliefs. Familiarity effects fit into a larger class of rater bias factors, also called 'eye