Interpersonal attraction and personality: What is attractive--self similarity, ideal similarity, complementarity or attachment security?

Abstract

Little is known about whether personality characteristics influence initial attraction. Because adult attachment differences influence a broad range of relationship processes, the authors examined their role in 3 experimental attraction studies. The authors tested four major attraction hypotheses--self similarity, ideal-self similarity, complementarity, and attachment security--and examined both actual and perceptual factors. Replicated analyses across samples, designs, and manipulations showed that actual security and self similarity predicted attraction. With regard to perceptual factors, ideal similarity, self similarity, and security all were significant predictors. Whereas perceptual ideal and self similarity had incremental predictive power, perceptual security's effects were subsumed by perceptual ideal similarity. Perceptual self similarity fully mediated actual attachment similarity effects, whereas ideal similarity was only a partial mediator.

A taxonomy of the characteristics of student peer mentors in higher education: findings from a literature review

“…Personality has a direct influence, along with selfconcept and self-esteem (Beebe et al, 2004, p. 60), on the interpersonal attraction between individuals (Klohnen & Shanhong, 2003). Although few studies look directly at how personality match or mismatch between mentors and mentees explains variations in mentor relationship functions, 15% of the articles identified aspects of personality match between mentor and mentee as important for positive mentoring outcomes.…”

Initial Evidence that Individuals Form New Relationships with Partners that More Closely Match their Ideal Preferences

“…First, because people tend to be attracted to others that are similar to themselves [19], we ran Models 1 and 2 with the addition of the original participants' self-evaluations across the 38 qualities (Model 1) and the new partners' Table 2: Multilevel Models Testing the Effects of Original Participants' Ideal Preferences Predicting New Partners' SelfPerceptions (Model 1) and New Partners' Ideal Preferences Predicting Original Participants' Self-Perceptions (Model 2). Note.…”

Perceptions of Ideal and Former Partners’ Personality and Similarity

“…Homogamy has been reported for numerous characteristics, such as physical attractiveness, attachment style, political and religious attitudes, socioeconomic background, level of education and IQ (Klohnen & Luo, 2003;Luo & Klohnen, 2005), and personality characteristics such as extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience (e.g., Barelds & Dijkstra, 2007;Botwin, Buss, & Shackelford, 1997;Dijkstra & Barelds, 2008;McCrae et al, 2008;Rammstedt & Schupp, 2008). In contrast, support for the ‗complementarity hypothesis' is much scarcer.…”

“…To date, studies on partner similarity have exclusively focused on perceived similarity in the current or ideal partner (e.g., Barelds & Dijkstra, 2007;Buunk & Bosman, 1986;Dijkstra & Barelds, 2008;Klohnen & Luo, 2003), neglecting perceptions of similarity of former partners. With regard to former partners, another hypothesis seems to be relevant.…”