Attitudes and attraction: A test of two hypotheses for the similarity‐dissimilarity asymmetry

Singh, Ramadhar; Teoh, Jennifer

doi:10.1348/014466699164257

Cited by 31 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The pattern of results obtained here with different kinds of measures provides further evidence in support of current attraction studies demonstrating that the negative effect of attitude dissimilarity is greater than the positive effect of attitude similarity, but only for social attraction responses (see recent studies by Singh & Ho, 2000;Singh & Teoh, 1999). In the present experiment, the weight of dissimilarity was greater than that of similarity only for behavioral attraction responses, where individuals felt more involved in the concerned social interaction.…”

Section: Behavioral and Affective Attraction Responsessupporting

confidence: 89%

The similarity–attraction relationship revisited: divergence between the affective and behavioral facets of attraction

Michinov

Monteil

2002

Euro J Social Psych

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In contemporary attitudes-and-attraction research, attraction has been viewed as a multidimensional construct. Moreover, the effects of dissimilar and similar attitudes have been shown to vary with the facets of attraction measured. The hypotheses tested are that (1) only the proportion of similar attitudes relevant to the social context or interaction goals affects behavioral attraction (i.e. interpersonal distance between the participant and targets), and (2) the proportion of similar attitudes influences affective attraction (i.e. Byrne's attraction measure), regardless of attitude relevance. Two experiments were conducted with classroom activities (Experiment 1) and a writing workshop (Experiment 2) as the social contexts. The results of both experiments supported the hypotheses. Clearly, a solely affective measure of attraction seems inadequate for understanding the similarity-attraction relationship. Copyright # 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.In attitudes-and-attraction research, it has been reported that the greater the attitudinal similarity between two persons, the greater the attraction between them (Byrne & Nelson, 1965). While this similarityattraction relationship has been observed repeatedly (for a review, see Byrne, 1971Byrne, , 1997, the limiting conditions were rather rare. Rosenbaum (1986) came up with an altogether new view on the similarityattraction link: only dissimilar attitudes affect attraction by leading to repulsion. Ever since the repulsion hypothesis, the relationship between attitude similarity and attraction has been an important issue in the contemporary literature (e.g. Byrne, Clore, & Smeaton, 1986;Drigotas, 1993;Hoyle, 1993;Pilkington & Lydon, 1997;Singh & Tan, 1992;Smeaton, Byrne, & Murnen, 1989;Tan & Singh, 1995).The first empirical evidence of a positive linear relationship between the proportion of similar attitudes and interpersonal attraction was found by Byrne and Nelson (1965). This relationship implies equal and opposite effects of similar and dissimilar attitudes, which corresponds to the similaritydissimilarity symmetry hypothesis. Recent studies, however, have reported a much stronger effect of dissimilar than similar attitudes, which corresponds to the similarity-dissimilarity asymmetry hypothesis

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Section: Behavioral and Affective Attraction Responsessupporting

confidence: 89%

The similarity–attraction relationship revisited: divergence between the affective and behavioral facets of attraction

Michinov

Monteil

2002

Euro J Social Psych

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“…As predicted, the results suggest that social comparison orientation (Gibbons & Buunk, 1999) plays a moderating role in the robust attitude similarity±attraction relationship, and more interestingly, that 552 Estelle Michinov and Nicolas Michinov this moderating effect is not due solely to a mere difference in the condition of dissimilar attitudes as in other attraction studies (see Byrne, 1971;Singh & Teoh, 1999 for a recent study). In the present study, the difference between high-and low-comparison orientation participants emerged because highcomparison orientation participants were not affected by the similar-attitude proportion (no classical straight-line relationship).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

“…Byrne, 1971;Singh & Teoh, 1999). In the second phase run one week later, the experimenter met the participants in groups of 30±35.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The similarity hypothesis: a test of the moderating role of social comparison orientation

Michinov

2001

Euro J Social Psych

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The purpose of the present experiment was to demonstrate how the classical similarity hypothesis (Byrne, 1971;Festinger, 1954) can be moderated by an individual difference variable called social comparison orientation (Gibbons & Buunk, 1999). This variable distinguishes people who exhibit different degrees of uncertainty about reality and self-knowledge. Based on prior studies on ability and opinion comparisons, we predicted that attitudinal similarity would not affect interpersonal attraction in high-comparison orientation individuals. Because of uncertainty and confusion about their selfknowledge, these people should be attracted to both similar and dissimilar others. In contrast, we expected an effect of attitude similarity in low-comparison orientation individuals because they do not exhibit this type of uncertainty. They should be only attracted to similar others who agree with them. The results con®rmed this prediction and suggested some directions for future studies.

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“…Studies examining the similarity effect are prolific, and meta-analyses generally agree that we associate feelings of 'liking', and identify better with people that resemble ourselves in some way than those that do not (Montoya and Horton, 2012;Singh and Teoh, 1999).…”

Section: The Similarity Attraction Paradigmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fitting the mould: the role of employer perceptions in immigrant recruitment decision-making

Almeida

Fernando

Hannif³

et al. 2015

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

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Human capital theory presumes that skill-accredited immigrant professionals can access positions in the labour market to match their skills and qualifications. It implies that employers have little power to influence the labour market outcomes of immigrant professionals. Using social identity theory, we examine the influence of similarity effect in recruitment decision-making involving immigrant information technology (IT) professionals in New South Wales, Australia. We assess how decision makers (N = 331) hiring IT professionals need to associate and identify with people that resemble themselves in some way more than those that do not, can influence their perception of the immigrant candidate's fit into their organisation. Particularly, we examine how the level of exposure to diversity, the decision maker's origin and the diversity of clientele can moderate the assessment of the candidate's fit to the organisation. We also assess how attire, name, accent and any overtly expressed religious affiliations influence employer perceptions. The findings indicate decision makers with lower levels of exposure to diversity or working in organisations with mostly Anglo clients tend to be more concerned of the fit regarding the Indians, South-east Asians and the Chinese. They were also more likely to be negatively influenced by the non-Anglo personal attributes.

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Attitudes and attraction: A test of two hypotheses for the similarity‐dissimilarity asymmetry

Cited by 31 publications

References 47 publications

The similarity–attraction relationship revisited: divergence between the affective and behavioral facets of attraction

The similarity–attraction relationship revisited: divergence between the affective and behavioral facets of attraction

The similarity hypothesis: a test of the moderating role of social comparison orientation

Fitting the mould: the role of employer perceptions in immigrant recruitment decision-making

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