Questionnaire Measures of Affiliative Tendency and Sensitivity to Rejection

Abstract

This paper reviewed evidence bearing on questionnaire measures of affiliative tendency and sensitivity to rejection (Mehrabian, 1970a). Subjects ( n = 916 undergraduates) who scored higher on the measure of affiliative tendency behaved in a more affiliative way, were more ingratiating and elicited greater relaxation from the strangers they met. They were less anxious, elicited more positive attitudes, judged themselves and were judged to be more self-confident, and perceived themselves as more similar to others. Subjects who scored higher on the measure of sensitivity to rejection were strikingly different. They were less reaxed, more anxious, and were judged less positively, more negatively, and as less confident, even though they had positive impressions of the strangers they met. It has been shown that Dependency is simply an equally weighted sum of affiliative tendency and sensitivity to rejection.