Depression and interpersonal attraction: The role of perceived similarity.

We hypothesized that depressed individuals are generally viewed as dissimilar and that this perceived dissimilarity contributes to negative reactions to the depressed. In addition, we hypothesized that if perceived similarity affects liking of depressed individuals, than nondepressed subjects should prefer nondepressed targets, but depressed subjects should not share this preference. To test these hypotheses, depressed and nondepressed subjects received information about two targets, both either depressed or nondepressed, one attitudinally dissimilar and one attitudinally similar. They were then asked to fill out an attraction measure and an interest in meeting measure for each target. The results clearly supported the primary hypotheses, demonstrating that nondepressed subjects preferred nondepressed targets and perceived them as more similar than depressed targets, and that this preference for nondepressed targets is not shared by depressed subjects. Tests of supplementary hypotheses also confirmed that depressed subjects perceive their best friends as being more depressed and more dissimilar than do nondepressed subjects. The implications of these findings for the social world of the depressed were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Satisfaction in interpersonal interactions as a function of similarity in level of dysphoria.

This study compared dysphoric and nondysphoric male and female undergraduates as they conversed with dysphoric or nondysphoric undergraduates of the same sex. Subjects rated their satisfaction with the conversation after each turn. The results showed that people in homogeneous dyads (i.e., both partners were dysphoric or both partners were nondysphoric) were most satisfied with the interaction, and their satisfaction increased as the conversation proceeded. People in mixed dyads were less satisfied, perceived each other as colder, and spoke about increasingly negative topics. Thus, in accord with other research showing that similarity leads to liking, the crucial determinant of interactional satisfaction was neither the mood of the subject nor the mood of the partner, but their similarity in mood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal attraction and attitude similarity.

It "was hypothesized that (a) a stranger who is known to have attitudes similar to those of the subject is better liked than a stranger with attitudes dissimilar to those of the subject, (b)… is judged to be more intelligent, better informed, more moral, and better adjusted… and (c)… is evaluated more positively on… four [other] variables." The first 2 hypotheses were confirmed. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4GE13B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal attraction and direct–indirect supervisor influence as predictors of counselor trainee effectiveness.

Examined the process of supervision as a sample of the social influence model by assessing the effect of counselor trainees' (CTs) interpersonal attraction to their supervisors (SUs) and the SU's style of influence as determinants of CT effectiveness. An experimental design was used, with 3 measures of the dependent variable CT effectiveness: clients' and SUs' perceptions of client outcome and SUs' perceptions of CT effectiveness on the Counselor Evaluation Rating Scale. Results of statistical analyses show that CTs who were attracted to their SUs were rated as more effective by SUs on 2 measures, although attraction was not related to clients' perceptions of outcome. A direct style of supervision was related to CT effectiveness, but on only 1 of 3 measures of the dependent variable. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supervisor facilitative conditions and effectiveness as perceived by thinking- and feeling-type supervisees.

A nationwide survey investigated the relationship between supervisor (SPV) facilitative conditions and effectiveness as perceived by 152 supervisees of different personality types and theoretical orientations. Ss completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and 2 short forms of the Relationship Inventory. Ss rated SPVs who contributed most to their effectiveness as therapists as significantly higher in SPV regard, empathy, congruence, unconditionality, and willingness to be known than those rated as contributing least. Among SPVs rated high in facilitative conditions, Ss were more likely to pick an SPV of the same theoretical orientation as most helpful. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapeutic attraction as a function of therapist attire and office furnishings.

82 undergraduates viewed a simulated therapy segment presented on 1 of 4 videotapes identical except for contextual formality. Checks confirmed the validity of the 4 conditions created by varying the traditionalism of the therapist's attire and office. Ratings of attraction were independent of therapist attire, reinforcing findings of interview analogs that did not include a manipulation check or a professional therapist. Ss' impressions were also largely unaffected by the office arrangements, reaffirming one analog outcome and clarifying a discrepant finding from a possible unrepresentative analog. Data refute formulations that assign therapist accoutrements a major role in priming nonspecific psychotherapeutic effects. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality profile similarity as a function of group membership.

Students in 3 universities were compared in an investigation of the question as to whether personality similarity between Ss paired at random would increase as the homogeneity of the group from which they were drawn increased. Homogeneity was defined in terms of race, sex, social class, and field of study. The results failed to confirm the expectation but they furnished convincing evidence of the existence of a low, positive, and significant average profile similarity among Ss paired at random. Regardless of its source, this phenomenon of interperson profile similarity should be taken into account in future studies utilizing personality similarity as a variable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Catecholamine secretion as a function of perceived coping self-efficacy.

Hypothesized that perceived coping self-efficacy mediates the effects of environmental events on catecholamine secretion. Differential levels of perceived self-efficacy were induced in 12 female phobic Ss, aged 19–40 yrs, through modeling. Their level of catecholamine secretion was then measured as they were presented with coping tasks in their high, medium, and low ranges of perceived self-efficacy. High perceived self-efficacy was accompanied by low levels of plasma epinephrine and norepinephrine during interaction with a phobic object, whereas moderate perceived self-inefficacy gave rise to substantial increases in plasma catecholamines. Both catecholamines dropped sharply when Ss declined tasks for which they judged themselves completely inefficacious. In contrast, dihydroxyphenyl-acetic acid was released maximally by mere apperception of task demands that Ss regarded as overwhelming their coping capabilities. After perceived self-efficacy was strengthened to the maximal level by S modeling, all of the tasks were performed without any differential catecholamine responses. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of supervisor experience level on planning and in-session supervisor verbal behavior.

Examined the effects of supervisor experience level on presession planning and in-session supervisor verbal behavior. 30 supervisors representing no, low (1? to 3 yrs), and high (4 to 25 yrs) levels of experience (mean ages 27.3, 28.7, and 35.8 yrs, respectively) listened to a 30-min audiotaped counseling interaction and then recorded thoughts and strategies for supervision in a 30-min planning session. Ss then conducted a 30-min supervision session with the counselor. Analyses of audiotapes from the planning and supervision sessions revealed no significant differences between the 3 levels of supervisory experience in planning statements. However, significant differences were observed in the actual supervision session, with low- and high-experience Ss being similar to each other and different from the no-experience group on several dependent measures. Results also indicate that the counselor rated the low- and high-experience Ss more positively than the no-experience Ss. No relation was observed between statements generated during the planning session and those occurring during supervision. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

My head says yes but my heart says no: Cognitive and affective attraction as a function of similarity to the ideal self.

The authors hypothesized that similarity to the ideal self (IS) simultaneously generates attraction and repulsion. Attraction research has suggested that a person likes individuals who are similar to his or her IS. Social comparison research has suggested that upward social comparison threatens self-evaluation. In Experiment 1, attraction to a partner increased and then decreased as the partner became more similar to and then surpassed the participant's IS. In Experiment 2, the cognitive and affective components of attraction increased and decreased, respectively, as the partner approached and surpassed the participant's IS to the extent that the dimension of comparison was meaningful and participants anticipated meeting their partner. Similarity to the IS generates opposing cognitive and affective reactions when the self-evaluative threat of upward comparison intensifies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generalization of children's preferences as a function of reinforcement and task similarity.

"An experiment was designed to study children's preferences for a series of problem-solving tasks as a function of the particular reinforcement condition associated with a training task, and the degree of similarity of each task to the training task… negative reinforcement produced in some S's approach gradients and in others avoidance gradients. The meaning of the results was discussed and related to motivation theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitude similarity, topic importance, and psychotherapeutic attraction.

Studied the effect of attitude similarity and topic importance on attraction in a natural setting by exposing 75 prison inmates, incarcerated for public intoxication, to varying attitudes of a psychotherapist prior to hearing him in a taped therapy session. The therapist's attitudes were either similar or dissimilar to the S's and pertained to either alcoholism (important) or general (unimportant) issues. Attraction was assessed using the Client's Personal Reaction Questionnaire developed by J. D. Ashby et al. A group of control Ss received no attitudinal information. Ss were more attracted to the therapist after receiving alcohol items regardless of degree of similarity expressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality similarity, positive affect, and interpersonal attraction.

The present study "assumed that interpersonal positive affect is a key determinant of interpersonal dynamics and that personality similarity facilitates the mutual expression of positive effect. The hypothesis was that subjects and their unilateral sociometric choices have significantly similar personality profiles prior to acquaintance, while subjects and their sociometric rejections do not." The hypothesis was supported. From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2GE84I. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal mediation as a function of age level.

A variety of experimental paradigms (reversal-nonreversal learning, transposition learning, etc.) indicate that young children evidence less mediational behavior than older children. Many variables have been shown to influence mediation, but it is not yet clear whether the emergence of mediational behavior is a voluntary or involuntary process, i.e., modifiable or unmodifiable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive level as a function of defensive isolation.

Evaluated the possibility that a failure to coordinate perspectives on the role-taking task (RTT) occurs when the TAT figures represent defensively isolated aspects of the self-structure. The Ss were given the RTT under 2 conditions: (1) Ss were assigned defensively isolated attributes, asked to tell a story built around TAT figures endowed with those attributes, and then required to take the perspectives of these figures in their role taking; (2) in the other, the assigned attributes were not defensively isolated. Ss showed more difficulty in coordinating perspectives under the defensive isolation condition than under the nonisolated condition. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Re-evaluation of choice alternatives as a function of their number and qualitative similarity.

6th-grade school children were given systematically varied choices from among several toys in order to test 2 derivations from Festinger's theory of psychological dissonance (see 32: 347). This theory states: "the magnitude of dissonance and consequent amount of increased liking for the chosen alternative and decreased liking for the unchosen alternative increases with (a) the qualitative dissimilarity of alternatives, and (b) the number of alternatives." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expertness, similarity, and perceived counselor competence.

Tested the effects of 2 levels of counselor similarity and expertness and 2 types of clients' problems on perceptions of the counselor's competence in an analog study. The basis for client-counselor similarity was age and student status; the basis for expertness was experience and training. Ss were 311 18-27 yr old undergraduates. They were given 1 of 8 biographical sketches of the counselor's background to read; then they heard a segment of a single taped interview. Counselor competence was assessed by evaluations on a 16-item Likert scale. It was hypothesized that suggestions of client-counselor similarity would facilitate perceptions of competence for affiliative problems, whereas suggestions of counselor expertness would facilitate perceptions of competence for academic problems. Suggestions of expertness led to higher evaluations of counselors for both problems. Findings support the importance of counselor credentials in determining clients' initial impressions of counselors. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modelling and instructional effects as a function of conceptual level.

Investigated the effects of conceptual level (CL) and training mode (modeling and instructions) on 3 problem-solving skills: problem definition, generation of alternatives, and choice behavior. 32 high and 32 low CL Ss (female undergraduates) were randomly assigned to 4 training conditions: instructions, modeling, instructions plus modeling, and control. Data indicate minimal support for the matching model. Modeling was an effective method in facilitating alternative generation. All 3 training conditions were effective in choice selection. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of including task variables in a matching model paradigm. Recommendations concerning future matching model studies are made. (French summary) (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual preference similarity, attitude similarity, and perceived counseling credibility and attractiveness.

84 17–66 yr old homosexual men identified as holding either an activist or a nonactivist stance on gay advocacy rated the counselor's credibility and attractiveness on the Counselor Rating Form after listening to an audiotape-recorded segment of a counseling interview between a male counselor and a male client expressing sexual preference concerns. Ss heard the same counseling interaction except for counselor responses to 2 client questions, one related to counselor sexual preference and one related to counselor stance on gay advocacy. The counselor was rated more Expert, Trustworthy, and Attractive when he stated a sexual preference for men than when he stated a sexual preference for women or refrained from stating a sexual preference. Attractiveness ratings were a function of attitude similarity between the counselor portrayed on the tape recording and Ss in the study. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inferred evaluation and the relation between attitude similarity and interpersonal attraction.

This research examines the possibility that the relation between attitude similarity and attraction is mediated by people's attributions of the other's evaluation of them. Using the hypothetical stranger paradigm, we manipulated subject/stranger similarity and the stranger's evaluation of the subject. Auxiliary dependent variables tapped subjects' (N?=?226) estimates of the extent to which they were in agreement with the stranger and their perception of the stranger's evaluation of them. The results demonstrated significant effects for both manipulated variables on attraction. Partial correlational analyses demonstrated that the similarity–attraction relation was mediated by subjects' inferences of the stranger's evaluation of them; holding inferred evaluation constant strongly attenuated the similarity–attraction association. Moreover, the inferred evaluation–attraction relation was unaffected when attitude similarity was partialed from it. The correlational pattern is contrary to that put forward by Byrne (1971) and suggests a reconsideration of the conventional interpretation of the similarity–attraction relation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)