Griffit and Guay- Ppts were evaluated on a creative
task by an experimenter and then asked to rate how
much they liked they liked the experimenter. The rating
was highest when the experiementer had positively
evaluated the ppts performance on the task.
Attraction through assocation
If we meet someone when
we are feeling happy, we are
much more inclined to like
them than if we meet them
when we are feeling
unhappy.
Does not account for
cultural and gender
differences. Lott
suggests that in many
cultures women are
more focused on the
needs of others rather
than receiving
reinforcement
Most of these studies are
carried out in a lab therefore
they lack mundane realism as
they do not necessarily show
that the principles of need and
satisfaction and similarity apply
in real life.
Similarity
Personality
Two people who are serious and
hardworking are more likely to be
attracted to each other, than a
serious, hardworking person and
someone whose main interests are
having fun and avoiding responsibility.
Caspi and Herbener
found that married
couples with similar
personalities tend to be
happier than couples with
less similar personalities.
Attitudes
Research suggests that the process of
attitude alignment often occurs, with
partners modifying their attitudes so they
become more similar.
Research on similarity has only dealt with attitude and personality. Yoshida pointed out that this
represents only a very narrow view of factors important in relationship formation, with factors such as
physical condition, economic level and self-concept being equally important.