“…Information about another's similarity is frequently interpreted to mean that the other is likely to be benevolent (146,159,292,297), to be compati ble (303), or to have greater ability than a dissimilar other to provide rewards (42). The other's similarity also makes it seem more likely that he will like us in return (141, 150,153,179). Yet as Jones et al (150) argue from a pair of studies, direct information that the other likes one is probably far more infl uential than indirect inferences based on information about attitude similarity: in the first, but not in the second, of their imaginative laboratory studies, Jones et al showed that subjects were more repelled by a similar than by a dissimilar other who ostensibly disliked them.…”