Toward a clarification of the role of cognitive and affective processes in the similarity-attraction relationship.

Abstract

84 female undergraduates received various proportions of either attitude or personality similarity from a same-sex stranger who was presented as either normal or emotionally maladjusted. Measures of attraction and judged agreement were obtained from a modified Interpersonal Judgment Scale which Ss completed after inspecting all of the information provided about the stranger. Results obtained from the personality inventory indicate that when the stranger was presented as maladjusted, she was judged by the Ss to have agreed with them on fewer questionnaire items than when she was presented as a normal peer (p < .025). In addition, at the highest level of actual similarity, perceived attitude agreement was greater than perceived personality agreement (p < .01). Partial correlation analyses revealed that only in the personality-maladjusted stranger condition was actual similarity the primary determinant of attraction response. It is suggested that the relative contribution of cognitive and affective processes to the similarity-attraction relationship may be determined by the affective nature of the stimulus conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)