Lecture on Similarity and Attraction

Key Concepts

• Similarity: A major predictor of attraction among individuals.
• Factors of Similarity: Includes attitudes, beliefs, interests, age, race, religion, economic status, and educational level.

Research Findings

• Surveys and Studies:
  • Close friends and couples often share common attributes.
  • People tend to befriend or partner with those similar to them in many aspects.

Experimental Study

• Setup: University students in a lab setting.
  • Participants: Believed to be playing a game with another student, who was actually a confederate.
• Conditions:
  1. Saw a real image of the other player.
  2. Saw an image with their own facial features morphed into it.
• Results: Participants more likely to cooperate and trust when the other player had morphed facial features.
• Conclusion: People prefer individuals with similar facial features.

Additional Findings

• Attraction and Voting:
  • More likely to find someone attractive if their facial features are morphed with ours.
  • More likely to vote for candidates with morphed facial features.

Similarity in Relationships

• Longevity of Relationships:
  • Relationships tend to last longer the more similar the individuals are.
• Perceptions of Similarity:
  • Alignment Over Time: Interests may align more over time as couples share.
  • Perceived Similarity: Couples might perceive themselves as similar, affecting survey outcomes.

Potential Bias

• Similarity Bias: Tendency to like those similar and exclude those who are different.
• Implications: While similarity draws people together, it might also lead to exclusion based on differences.

Summary

• Overall Effect: Similarity can both strengthen relationships and introduce biases against those who are different.