Best Friends

Rorschach Patterns Related to the Sociometric Status of School Children

“…All previous studies of this group (2,4,5,9,10,12,15,17,18,20,21,24,25) have shown the many and sometimes drastic symptoms these children possess. All previous studies of this group (2,4,5,9,10,12,15,17,18,20,21,24,25) have shown the many and sometimes drastic symptoms these children possess.…”

“…Most of these studies have been made on the observation of behaviour or the interview level (10,2,17). Other studies relating sociometric status to physique, socio-economic status and success in friendship relations have also been made (2,4,5,12,24). Other studies relating sociometric status to physique, socio-economic status and success in friendship relations have also been made (2,4,5,12,24).…”

Some Determinants of Friendship

“…X HE PROBLEM of likes and dislikes in adult interpersonal relations IS one of considerable importance in social psychology But although quite a large number of studies have been made in this area, there does not seem to be, at present, any real certainty as to the true nature of the determining factors involved It is, of course, true that such sociological variables as class, culture, and interests play an important part in the formation of friendships, as some authors have already indicated (1,7). But their importance appears to he mainly in the fact that they serve merely to bnng together two persons who might otherwise not be together That is to say, they limit from the start the field within which the choice of a fnend is made, though not in any simjde manner, as Reader and Enghsh have pointed out (6) In a sense, then, these factors are perhaps irrelevant to the mam problem of friendship, which undoubtedly relates to the personality characteristics of the two parties involved This fact is, of course, a commonplace But to establish, at this level, the exact nature of the relationship on which mutual attraction is built is a far more difficult task, nor is it one in which any great degree of success has yet been achieved There is no doubt that fnends attribute to each other various desirable characteristics of a stereotyped sort, such as loyalty, hkabihty, and others (H), but this fact does not really afford a solution to the problem A rather popular hypothesis has been that likes mutually attract In this connection, some studies have found various fixed traits to be of importance, such as high temperament surgency (3), or soaal and emotional adjustment (2) , others have stressed relative similarity only (5,6) It is perhaps true to say that the former approach applies rather to popularity than to friendship, and that the traits involved are fixed probably only for a particular culture The second approach, on the other hand, runs into difficulty in explaining the fact that not only do frequent exceptions appear, but that similarity IS usually found to be, on the whole, rather slight, as Stimner and Lee, reviewing the literature before 1941, have pointed out (9) Another hypothesis has been proposed to the effect that friendship IS based on a mutual satisfaction of needs (6) Thus a person will be attracted by another whose needs complement his own and vice versa While this idea has not been closely studied experimentally, it a{^ars to be a reasonable one and worthy of examination…”

Introversion-extroversion.

“…Laird (52) remarks that Is get along better with Is, and £s get along better with £s. Flemming (28) found the correlations for IE between pairs of ' best friends' were .56 for men and .13 for women. In determining delinquency and such forms of social maladjustment, the role of IE is yet uncertain.…”