Perceived and actual similarity in initial attraction
Introduction
Similarity-attraction effect is one of the most interesting topics in research studies of human science. Texas A & M University and Northwestern University have conducted a study to see the effects of perceived and actual similarity during a speed-dating event. This report will summarise and explain their aim, hypotheses, methods and main findings throughout their experiment.
Body
In order to examine the effects of both actual and perceived similarity in initial attraction, Texas A & M University and Northwestern University conducted a 4 minutes speed-dating experiment for 187 undergraduate students from different countries.
Before conducting the experiment, they had the following hypotheses:
1. The actual similarity will be weakly related to initial attraction.
2. Perceived similarity will have a significant effect on initial attraction. …show more content…
Actual similarity was significantly related to attraction in 2 of the 14 characteristics, which are “dependable” and “friendly”. And these 2 effects are not expected.
2. Actual similarity significantly predicted romantic liking for sexuality and marginally for extraversion and political conservatism. These are all in expected direction.
3. There are no systematic evidence suggests that actual similarity is a strong predictor to romantic liking.
4. Perceived similarity is significantly linked to romantic liking in 7 of the 14 characteristics, all in expected direction.
5. There is a strong association between the perceived similarity and romantic liking.
Overall, these findings show us the perceived similarity is a strong predictor of attraction or romantic liking and give us an insight of how much a participant will like a potential partner depending on their perceived similarity and also provide evidence that actual similarity have very little impact on how attractive people are.
Introduction
Similarity-attraction effect is one of the most interesting topics in research studies of human science. Texas A & M University and Northwestern University have conducted a study to see the effects of perceived and actual similarity during a speed-dating event. This report will summarise and explain their aim, hypotheses, methods and main findings throughout their experiment.
Body
In order to examine the effects of both actual and perceived similarity in initial attraction, Texas A & M University and Northwestern University conducted a 4 minutes speed-dating experiment for 187 undergraduate students from different countries.
Before conducting the experiment, they had the following hypotheses:
1. The actual similarity will be weakly related to initial attraction.
2. Perceived similarity will have a significant effect on initial attraction. …show more content…
Actual similarity was significantly related to attraction in 2 of the 14 characteristics, which are “dependable” and “friendly”. And these 2 effects are not expected.
2. Actual similarity significantly predicted romantic liking for sexuality and marginally for extraversion and political conservatism. These are all in expected direction.
3. There are no systematic evidence suggests that actual similarity is a strong predictor to romantic liking.
4. Perceived similarity is significantly linked to romantic liking in 7 of the 14 characteristics, all in expected direction.
5. There is a strong association between the perceived similarity and romantic liking.
Overall, these findings show us the perceived similarity is a strong predictor of attraction or romantic liking and give us an insight of how much a participant will like a potential partner depending on their perceived similarity and also provide evidence that actual similarity have very little impact on how attractive people are.