In the laboratory, interpersonal attraction is influenced by both attitude similarity and explicit personal evaluations. In naturally occurring situations, however, evaluations are seldom made explicit. People must often make assumptions regarding how they are evaluated by others. This study investigated the influence of attitude similarity and self-esteem on these assumptions. Believing they were exchanging attitude surveys with a stranger, 270 introductory psychology students of high or low self-esteem were randomly assigned to 0%, 50%, or 100% attitude similarity conditions. They indicated on the Interpersonal Judgment Scale (Byrne, 1961) their attraction to the stranger and estimates of the stranger's probable attraction to them. Attitude similarity significantly aifected subjects' attraction to the stranger and estimates of strangers' attraction to the subject. Subjects closely approximated predictions of the Byrne-Nelson (Byrne & Nelson, 1965) formula in estimating attraction from the stranger. Moreover, attitude similarity influenced goodness of fit between formula predictions and attraction estimates and influenced assumptions about attraction reciprocity. Self-esteem did not influence attraction to the stranger or expected attraction from the stranger.
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