Content uploaded by Robert Horton
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Robert Horton on Feb 09, 2015
Content may be subject to copyright.
Article
A meta-analytic
investigation of the
processes underlying
the similarity-attraction
effect
R. Matthew Montoya
1
and Robert S. Horton
2
Abstract
This research investigated two competing explanations of the similarity effect: Byrne’s
(1971) reinforcement model and the information processing perspective. A
meta-analysis of 240 laboratory-based similarity studies explored moderators important
to the similarity effect, including set size, proportion of similarity, centrality of attitudes,
and information salience. Results indicated effects for proportion of similarity, centrality
of attitudes, and information salience, and were largely consistent with predictions of the
information processing perspective. We discuss the implications of these findings for the
two perspectives, for other models for the similarity effect, and for the role of affect and
cognition in the experience of interpersonal attraction.
Keywords
similarity effect, interpersonal attraction, liking, reinforcement, cognition, affect
One of the most robust phenomena in attraction literature is the similarity effect (Byrne,
1997): Increased similarity with a target—with respect to attitudes, personality traits, or
a number of other attributes—is associated with increased attraction to the target. The
similarity effect has been observed in a multitude of different populations (e.g., Gaynor,
1
University of Dayton, USA
2
Wabash College, USA
Corresponding author:
R. Matthew Montoya, University of Dayton, 300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469, USA
Email: matt.montoya@udayton.edu
J S P R
Journal of Social and
Personal Relationships
30(1) 64–94
ªThe Author(s) 2012
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0265407512452989
spr.sagepub.com
1971; Murstein & Beck, 1972; Tan & Singh, 1995) and has been observed in relation to
personality traits (e.g., Carli, Ganley, & Pierce-Otay, 1991; Steele & McGlynn, 1979),
attitudes (e.g., Bond, Byrne, & Diamond, 1968; Byrne & Blaylock, 1963), hobbies
(Jamieson, Lydon, & Zanna, 1987), and values (Davis, 1979; Lewis & Walsh, 1979),
among other attributes (e.g., Gillis & Avis, 1980; Hill, Rubin, & Peplau, 1976; Peterson
& Miller, 1980; Spuhler, 1968; Stevens, Owens, & Schaefer, 1990; Susanne & Lepage,
1988). A meta-analysis of over 300 similarity studies observed that similarity produces a
positive, moderately sized effect on attraction (Montoya, Horton, & Kirchner, 2008).
Despite the overwhelming evidence that individuals are attracted to others who are
similar to them, the explanation for this effect has been the subject of much debate. The
two models that have garnered the most empirical attention—the reinforcement model
popularized by Byrne and colleagues (e.g., Byrne, 1971; Byrne, Clore, Griffitt, Lam-
berth, & Mitchell, 1973; Byrne & Rhamey, 1965) and the information processing per-
spective (e.g., Ajzen, 1974; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1972; Kaplan & Anderson, 1973)—have
both received substantial support as well as criticism for their (in)ability to account for
the empirical evidence. The reinforcement model, for example, cannot readily explain
why attraction does not occur as often in field studies compared with laboratory studies
(Montoya et al., 2008; Sunnafrank, 1992) or the lack of attraction from similarity of
negative traits (e.g., Ajzen, 1974; Novak & Lerner, 1968). The information processing
perspective has been questioned as to why similarity on less important attitudes (i.e.,
peripheral attitudes) does not lead to less attraction than similarity on important attitudes
(i.e., central attitudes; Clore & Baldridge, 1968) and why the similarity effect is not
affected by the number of attitudes one is regarded as similar to a target (i.e., set size;
Byrne et al., 1973).
Although several other models have been posited to explain the similarity effect (e.g.,
the repulsion hypothesis; Rosenbaum, 1986), the two models outlined above have
generated the vast majority of empirical work and have been elaborated on in enough
detail to generate specific predictions for a diversity of findings associated with the
effect. In the current research, we conducted a meta-analysis of laboratory investigations
of the similarity effect, in order to (a) test the validity of the reinforcement and informa-
tion processing perspectives, and (b) investigate variables that moderate the similarity
effect, in the hope of understanding more clearly what is responsible for interpersonal
attraction.
Models of the similarity effect
Byrne’s reinforcement model
The early dominant model of the similarity effect was posited by Byrne (1971), who
borrowed concepts from cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957) and classical
conditioning to argue that similar attitudes serve as reinforcers. According to this per-
spective, individuals have a fundamental need for a logical and consistent view of the
world, a need that Byrne called the effectance motive. Individuals favor stimuli that
reinforce the logic and consistency of their world. People who agree with us validate our
ideas and attitudes and, in so doing, reinforce the logic and consistency of our world (i.e.,
Montoya and Horton 65
satisfy our effectance motive). Similar people are reinforcing and thus are associated
with positive feelings, which in turn lead to attraction. People who disagree with us
create inconsistency in our world (i.e., do not satisfy the effectance motive) and are
associated with anxiety and confusion—feelings that lead to repulsion or, at the very
least, lack of attraction. Importantly, such reinforcements, like other classically
conditioned associations, occur automatically and in the absence of conscious awareness
(Byrne & Clore, 1970; Byrne, Rasche, & Kelley, 1974; Clore & Gormly, 1974). Byrne
and colleagues labeled their theoretical account the reinforcement model (Byrne et al.,
1973).
Information processing
A second explanation of the similarity effect posits that it is a function of the valence and
weight of information that one infers about an individual based on similarity or dis-
similarity. According to this information processing perspective (e.g., Ajzen, 1974;
Kaplan & Anderson, 1973; Tesser, 1971), one person’s attraction to another is deter-
mined by the information one has about the other. The available information acts as a
direct and immediate influence on attraction. If the information is favorable, then
attraction results. The effect of similarity on attraction can be understood as a product of
the information implied by a target’s similar or dissimilar attitudes, personality traits, or
other attributes. In the words of Kaplan and Anderson (1973, p. 304), ‘‘when we are told
that X has similar attitudes, we like him not because that information acts as an
unconditioned stimulus, but because it leads us to expect that he has various positive
aspects to his personality.’’
First, the information inferred from an attribute (e.g., attitude or personality trait) is
assigned a valence. Information that is regarded as positive will lead to attraction.
Importantly, individuals use their own attributes as an anchor by which to assess the
information they infer about another (Ajzen, 1974; Insko et al., 1973). Because indi-
viduals evaluate their own attributes positively, attributes similar to their own are also
evaluated positively. Dissimilar attributes are judged less positively and result in dislike
(e.g., Stalling, 1970). In turn, we infer positive information about similar others and less
positive information (or even negative information) about dissimilar others, information
that translates into differential attraction to similar and dissimilar others.
Second, attributes and the information they imply are assigned a weight, or impor-
tance. That weight is at least partially a function of the amount of information one infers
about a target. The more information one infers about a target from a particular attribute,
the more important that attribute will be to determining one’s attraction to the target. As
such, more informative attributes should produce more polarized judgments than less
informative attributes. In this way, whereas informative positive and negative stimuli
should lead to relatively extreme evaluations and to attraction and repulsion, respec-
tively, non-informative stimuli, either of positive or negative valence, should have less of
an impact on interpersonal judgments.
Third, the salience of information is an important determinant of interpersonal
judgments. That is, the more attention one allocates to information, the more that
information will affect one’s judgments. This presumption is consistent with previous
66 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30(1)
work emphasizing the role of salience on judgments (e.g., Hastie & Kumar, 1979; Jones
& Davis, 1965), and several theorists have gone farther to specifically posit that it is the
reduced salience of the similarity/dissimilarity information that reduces similarity’s
impact outside of the laboratory setting (Montoya et al., 2008; Sunnafrank, 1992). In all,
it suggests that the impact of similarity on attraction should be particularly potent when
the information implied by such similarity is salient.
Different predictions?
The reinforcement model and the information processing perspective make different
predictions regarding factors affecting the magnitude of the similarity effect. In fact, the
empirical literature has identified multiple variables that affect the magnitude of the
similarity effect and about which these two perspectives make different predictions. As
is discussed in the following sections, these moderators provide the means by which to
compare the two explanations.
Moderators of the similarity effect
Type of stimuli
One frequently explored moderator of the similarity effect is the centrality, or the
importance, of the stimuli used in the description of the target. Newcomb (1956, p. 578)
argued that ‘‘the discovery of agreement between oneself and a new acquaintance
regarding some matter of only casual interest will probably be less rewarding than the
discovery of agreement concerning one’s own pet prejudices.’’ However, past research
related to attitude importance has been equivocal: Some studies have found an effect for
attitude importance (Davis, 1981; Cheney, 1975); others have not (Byrne & Nelson,
1964; 1965).
With respect to the reinforcement model, Byrne and colleagues (e.g., Byrne, London,
& Griffitt 1968; Clore & Baldridge, 1968, 1970) concluded, based on the evidence
available at the time, that there was no effect for attitude importance on the similarity
effect. However, it is important to note that Byrne and Rhamey (1965, p. 887, emphasis
added) acknowledge the possibility of such an effect by suggesting that ‘‘if such weights
can be empirically established, the [Byrne–Rhamey] attraction law should be rewritten’’
and claim that such an effect is not fundamentally inconsistent with the reinforcement
model. In such a case, Byrne and colleagues (1973) posited, central attitudes would be
associated with a greater weight than peripheral attitudes, and such additional weight
would then result in greater attraction (or repulsion).
With respect to the information processing perspective, attitude centrality should
influence the weight of the stimuli, such that central stimuli are likely to imply more
information about a target than peripheral stimuli. As such, the information processing
perspective posits that central attitudes should produce more liking from similarity (and
more disliking from dissimilarity) than do peripheral attitudes, because there is more
information implied about the target (Kaplan & Anderson, 1973; Tesser, 1971).
Montoya and Horton 67
Personality traits versus attitudes. A related question is whether the similarity effect
operates to a similar degree for personality traits as it does for attitudes. Previous
research found mixed results when investigating whether personality trait similarity
leads to attraction: Some researchers detected a relation (e.g., McLaughlin, 1970; 1971),
whereas others failed to (Hoffman & Maier, 1966; Katz, Cohen, & Castiglione, 1963;
Reilly, Commins, & Stefic, 1960).
For the reinforcement model, Byrne, Griffitt, and Stefaniak (1967, p. 83) stated that
‘‘similarity to self, whether involving attitudes or values or abilities. provides evidence
that one is functioning in a logical and meaningful manner’’ and, as a result, should cause
increased attraction to the target. In this way, the reinforcement model predicts that
personality trait similarity should result in increased attraction, as does attitude simi-
larity, but did not hypothesize that it should lead to more or less attraction than attitude
similarity (see also Byrne et al., 1973).
For the information processing perspective, attitude similarity should have a different
effect on attraction than personality trait similarity, to the extent that the amount of
information implied by attitudes is greater (or less) than it is for personality traits.
Though the question has rarely been explored empirically, direct and indirect evidence
indicates that attitudes are, in fact, more informative than personality traits: Individuals
are better able to evaluate others when the other is described in terms of the attitudes they
hold versus the personality traits they possess (e.g., Higgins & Winter, 1993; Reeder,
2009; Smith & Collins, 2009), and observers infer more information about targets from
their attitudes than from their personality traits (Horton & Montoya, 2012). As such, the
information processing perspective would posit that attitudes should be associated with a
larger effect for similarity.
Set size
Set size refers to the number of stimuli used to manipulate and assess similarity. Previous
research has been inconsistent regarding the impact of set size on attraction (Byrne,
1971). Whereas Byrne and Rhamey’s (1965) law of attraction stated that attraction is a
function of the proportion of similar attitudes, regardless of whether 10 or 100 attitudes
were used in the similarity manipulation (see also Byrne & Nelson, 1965; Rosenblood,
1970), other research has emphasized the influence of set size (e.g., Kaplan & Anderson,
1973).
As with the case of the Type of Stimuli moderator, the prediction of no effect for set
size is taken from the empirically derived Byrne–Rhamey (1965) law of attraction rather
than the reinforcement model. Had Byrne and colleagues identified an effect for set size
in past research, it is likely that the reinforcement model—and the law of attraction—
would have been modified to match the empirical findings. In this way, the reinforce-
ment model does not ‘‘rule out’’ an effect for set size per se, but nor does it predict one
(Byrne et al., 1973).
Alternatively, the information processing perspective posits that set size will have an
effect on the magnitude of the similarity effect because the amount of information
increases as set size increases (Kaplan & Anderson, 1973). Moreover, this perspective
posits that the relation between attraction and set size will increase linearly for small set
68 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30(1)
sizes, but will then asymptote for larger set size values (Kaplan & Anderson, 1973), as
each additional stimulus is relatively less informative of the other’s attributes.
Information salience
Information salience refers to the degree to which the information regarding the target is
consciously available immediately before the attraction assessment. Montoya and
Horton (2004), for instance, manipulated whether participants completed four ‘‘cogni-
tive evaluation’’ items prior to assessing attraction to a similar or dissimilar target.
Responding to the four evaluation items made salient the information implied by the
attitude similarity (or not) and resulted in increased attraction; not doing so left that
information relatively non-salient and eliminated the influence of similarity on attrac-
tion. Similarly, Simons (2008) manipulated the order in which interpersonal attraction
and cognitive evaluation items were assessed. He found that when the cognitive evalua-
tion items were assessed before the attraction assessment (high salience), the cognitive
evaluation items were significantly better mediators of the similarity effect than when
they were presented after the attraction assessment (low salience).
The reinforcement model—grounded in the principles of classical conditioning—
maintains that one’s assessment of attraction results from the amount of reinforcement
that is associated with the target—a process that is independent of one’s cognitive
processes. The reinforcement model suggests that such cognitive processes occur either
simultaneously with (Byrne et al., 1974) or after (e.g., Byrne & Clore, 1970; Clore &
Gormly, 1974) the experience of interpersonal attraction. By this reasoning, then, sal-
ience of information should not affect attraction.
The information processing perspective posits that salient information will have a
greater influence on attraction (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). As noted previously, this
perspective proposes that similarity drives a positive evaluation of the target other, which
then produces attraction. The more salient that evaluation is, the more powerful its
influence should be (Shaffer & Tabor, 1980; Snyder & Ebbesen, 1972).
Proportion of similarity
Proportion of similarity refers to the ratio of similar to dissimilar stimuli. This moderator
is the foundation of the similarity effect and is the defining characteristic of similarity
studies. The literature has consistently found an effect for proportion of similarity: Byrne
(1962), for example, manipulated seven progressive levels of proportion of similarity
and found that attraction increased linearly. In additional studies designed to investigate
different proportions of similarity, both Byrne and Nelson (1965) and Byrne and Rhamey
(1965) found similar results.
Proportion of similarity is a moderator about which the reinforcement model and
information processing perspective agree: Both predict an effect. The reinforcement
model regards a higher proportion of similarity as providing more reinforcement for
one’s own views, and thus more positive affect associated with a target. The information
processing perspective regards the higher proportion of similarity as providing a higher
proportion of positive, as opposed to negative, information about a target. Such relative
Montoya and Horton 69
prevalence of positive information should produce more attraction. Although the two
perspectives make similar predictions, we included this in our analysis to confirm the
basic predictions of these models.
Purpose of this research
We conducted a meta-analysis of 240 laboratory studies of similarity effect to compare
the merit of the reinforcement and the information processing perspectives. A meta-
analysis provided the opportunity to test the different predictions of the two perspectives.
As summarized in Table 1, these predictions involved moderators of the similarity effect:
Type of stimuli, set size, and information salience. We also tested the moderating effect
of proportion of similarity to test a basic assumption of both perspectives.
Method
Meta-analysis sample
The studies included in this meta-analysis are a subset of those reported in Montoya et al.
(2008). Studies for the original sample were gathered in three ways. First, an electronic
literature search was conducted using the PsycINFO (1887 – July 2004) and Dissertation
Abstracts International (1861 – July 2004) databases. Keywords were ‘‘assumed,’’ ‘‘atti-
tude,’’ ‘‘attraction,’’ ‘‘complimentary,’’ ‘‘congruence,’’ ‘‘dissimilarity,’’ ‘‘homogamy,’’
‘‘ideal self,’’ ‘‘liking,’’ ‘‘perceived,’’ ‘‘personality,’’ ‘‘reinforcement-affect,’’ ‘‘repulsion,’’
and ‘‘similarity,’’ Second, the sent a request for relevant studies to an Internet discussion
forum; third, we contacted investigators who had frequently published research on the
similarity effect. We selected only laboratory-based studies that compared similar and
dissimilar attitudes or similar and dissimilar personality traits, resulting in 240 laboratory
studies. From these studies, we extracted 337 similarity–dissimilarity effect sizes with a
total sample size of 28,674 participants. Sample sizes ranged from 13 to 509
(M¼83.84, SD ¼71.24). Inspection of the funnel plot of laboratory studies by Montoya
et al. (2008) provided no support for publication bias for this set of studies (see Montoya
et al., 2008, p. 889 for the funnel plot).
Data coding
Type of stimuli. Laboratory studies of the similarity effect most frequently manipulate
similarity using either attitudes or personality traits (Montoya et al., 2008). In order to
test predictions of the reinforcement and information processing perspectives using as
many studies as possible, we first coded this variable as a categorical variable with two
levels: Attitude study and personality study. A study was coded as an attitude study if
participants were asked to evaluate specific objects or issues (e.g., death penalty,
abortion, discotheques). We coded studies as a personality trait study if participants
completed either a personality trait assessment questionnaire (e.g., California Personality
Inventory, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) or a specific personality trait
assessment (e.g., extraversion, agreeableness, hypertraditionality).
70 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30(1)
As a more sensitive test of this moderator, we further classified attitude studies into
one of three categories: Peripheral, central, and unclassified. Studies that used attitudes
to manipulate similarity in which the attitudes were defined by the authors as ‘‘central,’’
‘‘critical,’’ or ‘‘important’’ attitudes were coded as ‘‘central’’ attitude studies. Studies
that included attitudes that were described by the authors as ‘‘unimportant,’’ ‘‘irrele-
vant,’’ or ‘‘peripheral’’ were coded as ‘‘peripheral’’ attitude studies. A vast majority of
studies did not report their attitudes and therefore were labeled ‘‘unclassified.’’ Such a
process resulted in a four-level variable: personality trait studies, central attitude studies,
peripheral attitude studies, and unclassified attitude studies.
Set size. We coded set size as a continuous variable that was equivalent to the number of
items used to manipulate the degree of similarity. In any study in which the participant
received information from the target other, set size was defined as the number of stimuli
about which the participant received information.
Information salience. Information salience was coded as a categorical variable with two
levels: Salient evaluation present and salient evaluation absent. We coded each study by
noting the questions used to assess the target prior to the assessment of interpersonal
attraction. For example, the Interpersonal Judgment Scale (IJS, Byrne, 1971) includes
four ‘‘filler’’ questions that ask the participants about the attributes of the target other and
that precede the two attraction items. Montoya and Horton (2004) argued that the
‘‘filler’’ questions that ask participants to rate the target other’s intelligence, adjustment,
morality, and competence on a given task make salient their evaluation of the target
other. We coded as ‘‘information salient’’ those studies in which participants assessed
the overall quality of the target before indicating their attraction to the target. We coded
as ‘‘information not salient’’ those studies that did not meet this criterion.
Proportion of similarity. We coded proportion of similarity as a continuous variable with the
value assigned equal to the percentage of similar attributes. The proportion of similarity
was the percent of the partner’s attributes that were similar to those of the participant. For
example, in studies that were characterized by ‘‘75 vs. 25,’’ participants shared 75%of
attitudes in the similar condition and 25%of attitudes in the dissimilar condition, and
thus these studies were coded with a value of ‘‘75.’’ We excluded from this analysis any
Table 1. Predictions for the reinforcement and information integration models
Reinforcement model Information processing perspective
Set size No Yes, but curvilinear
Type of stimuli No
a
Yes
Attitude vs. personality trait No Yes
Informational salience No Yes
Proportion of similarity Yes Yes
a
Later theorizing indicated that this prediction would change to ‘‘Yes’’ if empirical data were to become
available.
Montoya and Horton 71
study that failed to report the degree of similarity or was continuous in nature (i.e., the
percentage of similarity between individuals was derived from a post hoc comparison of
the participant’s attributes compared with another’s attributes).
Other variables. For each similarity–dissimilarity comparison we coded basic descriptive
information and additional variables for exploratory and sensitivity analyses. These
variables included: Author and full citation; source (journal, edited volume, thesis or
dissertation, or unpublished manuscript); sample (college students, adults, or school
children); year of publication; type of personality traits measured (specific personality
trait, complete scale); type of relationship (stranger, friend, boyfriend/girlfriend, mar-
riage partner); recruitment method (participant pool, monetary incentive, or volunteer);
sample size; and sex composition of the sample (all men, all women, men and women in
interactions that were homogenous with respect to sex, or men and women in interactions
that were heterogeneous with respect to sex).
Statistical methods
Effect sizes used
The effect size index was Fisher’s z(Fisher, 1928), calculated such that greater positive
values indicated greater attraction for similar others and negative values indicated
greater attraction for dissimilar others. An effect size of zero indicates no relation
between similarity and attraction. Following the recommendations of Rosenthal (1994),
we used the effect size zbecause of its conceptual superiority over effect size dfor
studies involving continuous data.
Random-effects model
We selected a random-effects model in order to make unconditional inferences that gen-
eralized to the hypothetical population of all studies that could exist, rather than simply
to the studies included in the present sample (Hedges & Vevea, 1998). We used the
method of unconditional maximum likelihood to estimate model parameters. Effect sizes
were computed by weighting each individual effect size by the inverse of its variance.
We computed a Q-statistic to test the assumption of homogeneity and an I
2
to test the
amount of heterogeneity.
For our analyses, we first tested an empty model to determine the average size of the
similarity effect. We then tested a model with the four proposed moderators of interest
entered simultaneously.
Sensitivity analyses. We made a number of assumptions in this meta-analysis. For example,
we identified several moderators for theoretical reasons (e.g., set size, proportion of simi-
larity) and, as such, implicitly assumed that others were less important. To investigate
the possible consequences of these assumptions, we performed a series of sensitivity
analyses. Our sensitivity analyses involved two processes. First, we tested the six two-
way interactions between the four moderators of interest to determine whether important
72 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30(1)
interactions would emerge. Second, to determine if a potentially important moderator
was excluded from our a priori analyses, we conducted additional analyses in which
other potential moderators (e.g., gender, sample, source) were included one at a time into
the a priori model.
Results
Overall model
AQ-test of the null hypothesis that it is plausible that the true variance component is zero
was significant (variance component ¼0.055), Q(337) ¼2886.41, p< .05. A test of
heterogeneity indicated substantial heterogeneity across studies, I
2
¼88%(95%confi-
dence interval [CI] ¼79%to 96%). Using a random-effects estimate, the effect size was
strong (r¼.59; 95%CI: .55, .63) and different from zero, z¼29.60, p< .05.
Moderators
Type of stimuli. As noted in Table 2, the type of stimuli moderator reached significance.
The means for type of stimuli are presented in Table 3. We contrast coded this four-level
variable using three orthogonal contrasts. Contrasts were calculated to test two key
hypotheses: (a) whether central attitudes were associated with a larger effect than periph-
eral attitude studies, and (b) whether attitude studies, compared with personality trait
studies, were associated with a larger effect. The first contrast, which compared periph-
eral attitude studies to central attitudes, was significant, w
2
(1) ¼4.39, p< .05, and indi-
cated that central attitudes were associated with a larger effect than peripheral attitudes.
The second contrast detected a difference between all attitude studies and personality
trait studies, w
2
(1) ¼6.25, p< .05, revealing that attitude studies are associated with a
larger effect size than personality trait studies. The final contrast, which was included
without theoretical prediction, compared central and peripheral attitudes to personality
trait studies, and was not significant, w
2
(1) ¼0.41, p¼.52. The contrast indicated that
the averaged similarity effect for central and peripheral attitudes was not different from
that for the personality trait studies.
Set size. As presented in Table 2, the main effect for set size was not significant. Given
the predictions of the information integration perspective, we also tested set size as a
quadratic function. The effect was also not significant, w
2
(1) ¼1.51, p¼.21.
Information salience. The main effect for information salience was significant. The main
effect indicated that the similarity effect was more potent when the information was
made salient than when it was not.
Proportion of similarity. We treated proportion of similarity as a continuous variable. The
similarity effect was stronger as the proportion of similarity increased. To illustrate the
effects of proportion on the similarity effect, Table 3 presents proportion of similarity as
Montoya and Horton 73
a categorical variable using the commonly used operationalizations of proportion. There
was a clear trend for the similarity effect to increase as proportion of similarity increased.
Sensitivity analyses
Sensitivity analysis discovered that one additional factor, gender, was also associated
with the size of the similarity effect, w
2
(3) ¼12.39, p< .05. To account for gender’s
association with the similarity effect, we created a factor that accounted for not only the
gender of the participant, but also the gender of the target other. The factor included four
participant gender and target gender combinations: female participant–female target,
male participant–male target, unspecified participant (defined as groups of participants
Table 3. Mean effect sizes (in r) for each level of the similarity effect moderators
k Effect size (r)
Overall
Overall effect 337 .59
Information salience
Salient 239 .60
Not salient 98 .54
Type of stimulus
Personality trait 26 .48
Unclassified attitude 244 .62
Central attitude 50 .52
Peripheral attitude 16 .41
Proportion of similarity
75% similar–25% dissimilar 54 .47
80% similar–20% dissimilar 42 .54
83% similar–17% dissimilar 48 .61
90% similar–10% dissimilar 19 .62
100% similar–0% dissimilar 142 .62
Gender (Gender of participant–gender of target)
Female–female 41 .69
Male–male 54 .47
Unspecified gender–same gender partner 197 .61
Unspecified gender–opposite gender partner 45 .49
Note. Positive values indicate stronger relation between similarity and attraction. Numbers may not add up to
337 due to missing values for some studies.
Table 2. Parameter estimates for similarity effect moderators
w
2
d.f. P
Set size 0.21 1 .64
Type of stimuli 9.05 3 .00
Informational salience 4.11 1 .00
Proportion of similarity 7.50 1 .00
74 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30(1)
whose gender was not specified, nor accounted for, in the original study)–matched gender
target, and unspecified participant–opposite gender target. To explore this moderator, we
created three orthogonal contrasts. The first contrast compared female–female interactions
to male–male interactions. This contrast revealed that female–female interactions were
associated with a stronger similarity effect than were male–male interactions, w
2
(1) ¼4.87,
p< .05. The secondcontrast compared unspecified participant–matched gendertarget to the
male–male and female–female conditions, and was not significant, w
2
(1) ¼0.19, p¼.63.
The final contrast, which compared the unspecified participant–opposite gender target
condition to the three other levels (i.e., contexts in which the gender of the target matched
that of the participant), was significant, w
2
(1) ¼5.10, p< .05. This contrast indicated that
unspecified–matched interactions produced a weaker similarity effect than did the combi-
nation of all gender-specified interactions.
Information salience by proportion of similarity. Additional tests identified an Information
Salience Proportion of Similarity interaction, w
2
(1) ¼6.42, p< .05, such that increased
proportion of similarity was associated with a stronger similarity effect when informa-
tion was salient than when information was not salient. In other words, the slope for
proportion of similarity was greater when the available information was salient than
when it was not.
Information salience by type of stimuli. There was also an Information Salience Type of
Stimuli interaction, w
2
(3) ¼9.11, p< .05, such that salient information led to a stronger
similarity effect in studies that used central attitudes or that were ‘‘unclassified,’’ but not
when the studies used peripheral attitudes or personality traits as stimuli.
Discussion
Our meta-analysis of 240 laboratory studies resulted in support for three of the four
effects proposed by the information processing perspective, and for two of the four
proposed by Byrne’s reinforcement model. More specifically, we observed effects for
two moderators which information processing predicted and the reinforcement model
did not: Type of stimuli and information salience. First, more informative stimuli
(e.g., central attitudes) were associated with a larger similarity effect than were less
informative stimuli (e.g., peripheral attitudes). Second, the similarity effect was greater
when similarity information was salient before the attraction assessment. Proportion of
similarity was also influential, but this was an effect that both the reinforcement model
and information processing perspective predicted.
In addition, two interactions identified during the sensitivity analyses were consistent
with the information processing perspective. Specifically, the type of stimulus and
proportion of similarity mattered more when the information about the target was made
salient compared to when it was not. Given the emphasis on cognitive processing in the
information processing perspective, having more information available and salient
should have a greater impact on the later experienced attraction. Alternatively, given the
emphasis and importance of affective processing of the reinforcement model (and the
Montoya and Horton 75
related suggestion that any cognitive processes occur simultaneously or after the
affective processes), such findings would not necessarily be predicted by this approach.
Importantly, not all of the meta-analytic findings contradict Byrne’s reinforcement
model. First, Byrne et al. (1973) stated that if set size was found to be important to the
similarity effect, the model would require revision. However, we found no evidence that
the similarity effect is affected by the number of stimuli. Despite a positive slope within a
meta-analysis of a large sample (k¼337), the main effect for set size was not significant.
As such, it appears that Byrne et al. (1973) were accurate in suggesting that any influence
of similarity information is as important for 10 stimuli as it is for 100 stimuli. Second,
Byrne and colleagues treated centrality as a hypothetical possibility that may need to
be included in the model if data indicated such need. In several papers (e.g., Byrne &
Clore, 1970), the researchers presented an alternative equation for the law of attraction
had there been sufficient empirical evidence to support ‘‘differential weighting in the
similarity effect:’’
AR ¼fPðPR MÞ
PðPR MÞþPðNR MÞ
ð1Þ
such that AR is the affective response (e.g., attraction), Mis the Magnitude (i.e., the
weight associated with the reinforcements), and PR and NR represent the positive and
negative reinforcements, respectively. The current findings at the very least provide
empirical evidence to support the adoption of such a weighted model.
It should be noted that given the large sample size of the meta-analysis, it was likely
that significant effects were more ‘‘statistically’’ significant than they were ‘‘practically’’
important. For example, whereas we identified a significant effect for Information Sal-
ience, the mean difference between ‘‘salience’’ and ‘‘no salience’’ studies was .06, with
‘‘no salience’’ studies still producing a notable effect size. When comparing the predic-
tive ability of different theoretical models, however, the critical question is whether there
is a difference between models in their ability to explain the extant data; in that light,
such (perhaps small) effects remain meaningful.
Implications for other models of the similarity effect
It is important to acknowledge that the current work focused on only two explanations
for the similarity effect and excluded others, such as the rewards of interaction
(Berscheid & Walster, 1969), anticipation of liking (Condon & Crano, 1988), and
repulsion (Rosenbaum, 1986) perspectives. We focused on the reinforcement and
information processing perspectives because they specifically theorized about mod-
erators important to the similarity effect and have been explicitly tested in previous
work. But it is important to note that aspects of other models can be informed by the
findings of this meta-analysis.
Rewards of interaction. A rewards of interaction perspective (Berscheid & Walster, 1969)
posits that the degree of similarity between two persons predicts the number of rewards
76 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30(1)
an individual expects to experience in an interaction with another. One testable aspect of
this approach is that items that are more informative of the rewards (e.g., central
attitudes) should be more affected by similarity than less informative items (e.g.,
peripheral attitudes; Santee, 1976; see also Davis, 1981). From the rewards of interaction
perspective, similarity of central attitudes should have a greater influence on attraction
because they are more informative about the rewards that might be expected in the
future. The results of this meta-analysis are consistent with this prediction.
Second, the rewards of interaction approach has its roots in equity theory (Walster,
Walster, & Berscheid, 1978), and as such, includes an emphasis on the cognitive pro-
cesses that determine benefits and costs. In this light, salience of the anticipated
rewards—particularly those inferred from central attitudes—should be more influential
on attraction. As described earlier, we found a main effect for salience, in addition to two
interactions involving the salience variable that indicate that the effects for similarity are
stronger for salient similarity information. In this way, many of the predictions of the
rewards of interaction approach would be supported by the results of this meta-analysis.
Repulsion hypothesis. Rosenbaum (1986) proposed that the positive relation between simi-
larity and attraction may result from the repulsion caused by the dissimilar attitudes—the
greater the number of dissimilar attitudes, the greater the repulsion. Although this is a tes-
table proposition for a meta-analysis, to our knowledgeonly four studies have independently
varied the number of similar and dissimilar attitudes, making a meta-analysis impractical.
Additionally, results of those studies are mixed: Rosenbaum found that the number of dis-
similar attitudes had aneffect on attraction but the number of similar attitudes did not, while
Smeaton, Byrne, and Murnen (1989, Study 1) held the number of dissimilar attitudes con-
stant but changed the number of similar attitudes. Contrary to Rosenbaum’s (1986) findings,
attraction increased with an increasing number of similar attitudes.
However, what is really at the heart of this debate is whether dissimilar attitudes have
a disproportionate influence on attraction when compared with similar attitudes. Indeed,
research has repeatedly demonstrated that dissimilar attitudes affect attraction more than
similar attitudes do (e.g., Singh & Teoh, 1999). Whereas the notion that dissimilar
attitudes contributes more to the attraction process than do similar attitudes was dis-
missed out of hand by Byrne and colleagues (Smeaton et al., 1989), it has become clear
that dissimilar stimuli—due to a multitude of different affective and cognitive pro-
cesses—contribute more to the experience of attraction than do similar stimuli (e.g., Jia
& Singh, 2009; Singh & Ho, 2000; Singh, Lin, Tan & Ho, 2008; Singh & Teoh, 1999).
Such an explanation could be incorporated into both the information processing and
reinforcement perspectives: (a) for the reinforcement perspective, it would necessitate a
different weight for positive versus negative reinforcements (called ‘‘magnitude’’ in
Equation 1 above); and (b) for the information processing perspective, it would simply
involve more information being inferred from negative stimuli than from positive
stimuli. Such an interpretation indicates that both models—and thus the present
meta-analytic findings—can incorporate the expectations of the repulsion hypothesis.
Anticipation of liking. Condon and Crano (1988) argued that a person’s attraction toward
another is a function of the extent to which the other is assumed to like that person. From
Montoya and Horton 77
this perspective, people anticipate that those with similar attitudes will like them, and
those with dissimilar attitudes will dislike them. In effect, people like similar others
because they expect those others to like them. This explanation mirrors another classic
finding in the attraction literature: The reciprocity of liking effect (Gouldner, 1960). It is
interesting to note that past research has found that the reciprocity of liking effect is
approximately three times stronger than that of the similarity effect (e.g., Bell & Baron,
1974; Byrne & Ervin, 1969; Clore & Baldridge, 1970).
There is likely one prediction of this approach that is inconsistent with the meta-
analytic results: Specifically, set size. It may be hypothesized that this approach would
argue that increased set size should be associated with a smaller similarity effect. With
respect to the influence of a specific stimulus, similarity researchers have concluded that
the effects of similarity information are additive (Byrne, 1971), whereas the same addi-
tive rules may not apply to liking information. In other words, inconsistent liking infor-
mation (i.e., ‘‘I like you. I don’t like you. I like you.’’) may influence the evaluations of
others differently from similarity information’s influence on the evaluations of others.
There are two reasons for this difference: (a) As noted within the gain–loss literature
(Aronson, 1969; Aronson & Linder, 1965), not all expressions of (dis)liking are
weighted equally, such that expressions of dislike after liking have a disproportionate
influence on evaluations; and (b) expressions of liking are informative of another’s
‘‘benevolent’’ orientation toward the other (Montoya & Insko, 2008) and situations in
which a benevolent orientation is repeatedly violated may lead to reduced attraction.
Such a difference would be most prominent with greater set sizes, such that whereas
similarity models would posit that such reinforcements/punishments would accumulate
additively, the reciprocity of liking literature would posit that there is a greater opportu-
nity for benevolent expectations to be repeatedly violated. In this way, it is plausible to
hypothesize that a reciprocity of liking approach would posit that increased set size
would be associated with a smaller similarity effect—a result inconsistent with the find-
ings of this meta-analysis.
The bigger picture
The reinforcement model and the information processing perspective represent two
distinct perspectives on the experience of attraction: At their ideological cores, the
information processing perspective posits a principally cognitive approach, whereas the
reinforcement model posits a fundamentally affective approach. Our findings not only
provide evidence regarding the efficacy of these models for explaining the similarity
effect, but also provide additional evidence for the processes that underlie the broader
experience of attraction. As noted earlier, the findings were largely consistent with the
information processing perspective: We found a main effect for salience, and discovered
that the salience variable interacted with two variables important for the operation of the
similarity effect.
Indeed, the current findings are consistent with recent explanations of other attraction
phenomena that focus on underlying cognitive processes. For example, whereas initial
explanations of the pratfall effect focused on affective forces (e.g., Aronson, Willerman,
& Floyd, 1966), more recent explanations have focused on a combination of cognitive
78 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30(1)
and affective processes (e.g., Herbst, Insko, & Gaertner, 2003). Similarly, initial
explanations of the reciprocity of liking effect focused considerably on affective pro-
cesses (e.g., Adams, 1963); but subsequent research posited that cognitive processes
played a dominant role in the effect (e.g., Montoya & Insko, 2008). Further, initial
explanations of increased attraction to others who are present during an anxiety-
producing event focused on affect (Dutton & Aron, 1974), but later interpretations
focused on the influential role of cognitive processes (e.g., Foster, Witcher, Campbell,
& Green, 1998). Specific to the similarity effect, research has provided evidence that
cognitive processes, compared to affective processes, do a better job at mediating the
effect. In a series of studies that specifically tested the different mediators of the similar-
ity effect, Singh and colleagues (Singh et al., 2007; Singh, Ng, Ong, & Lin, 2008) found
that affect did not mediate the influence of similarity on attraction when cognitive med-
iators were included in the model, whereas cognitive processes consistently mediated the
effect. Overall, then, cognitive processes effectively explain a variety of attraction phe-
nomena, including the similarity effect, many of which were originally presumed to be a
result of affective processes.
It is noteworthy that this cognitive perspective can account effectively for not only the
current meta-analytic findings, but also some interesting inconsistencies in the similarity
effect. As an example, take the finding that similarity on negative attributes does not lead
to attraction (Novak & Lerner, 1968). Though other models struggle to explain this find-
ing (e.g., Ajzen, 1974), the information processing perspective argues that similarity of
negative attributes conveys negative information about the target. This negative informa-
tion would not lead to attraction, but to avoidance. The fact that the information process-
ing perspective explains diverse, and sometimes disparate, findings through the same
cognitive model speaks to its value as a more general theory of attraction.
Conclusion
This meta-analysis explored four critical moderators of the similarity effect. The key
findings included significant main effects for type of stimulus, proportion of similarity,
and information salience. The main effect for information salience, in addition to two
interactions involving this variable, provided evidence for the role of cognitive processes
in the experience of attraction. In this way, these results provided more support for the
information processing perspective than for the reinforcement model and, more gener-
ally, provided more support for a cognitive approach than for an affective-based
approach.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to all the authors who made additional information available on their studies. We
also thank the SCAR Group for their comments and assistance with this research.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-
profit sectors.
Montoya and Horton 79
References
Adams, J. S. (1963). Toward an understanding of inequity. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psy-
chology,67, 422-436.
*Aderman, D., Bryant, F. B., & Domelsmith, D. E. (1978). Prediction as a means of inducing tol-
erance. Journal of Research in Personality,12, 172-178.
*Ajzen, I. (1974). Effects of information on interpersonal attraction: Similarity versus affective
value. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,29, 374-380.
*Allgeier, A. R., & Byrne, D. (1973). Attraction toward the opposite sex as a determinant of phys-
ical proximity. Journal of Social Psychology,90, 213-219.
*Anderson, A. B. (1975). Combined effects of attraction and goal-path clarity on the cohesiveness
of task oriented groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,31, 68-75.
*Arenson, S. J., Lannon, P. B., Offermann, L. R., & Kafton, A. (1982). The validity of attitude
change by classical conditioning. Journal of Social Psychology,117, 243-248.
Aronson, E. (1969). Some antecedents of interpersonal attraction. In W. Arnold and D. Levine (Eds.),
NebraskaSymposium on Motivation (Vol. 17) (pp. 143-173). LincolnUniversity of Nebraska Press.
Aronson, E., & Linder, D. (1965). Gain and loss of esteem as determinants of interpersonal attrac-
tiveness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,1, 156-171.
*Aronson, E., & Worchel, P. (1966). Similarity versus liking as determinants of interpersonal
attractiveness. Psychonomic Science,5, 157-158.
Aronson, E., Willerman, B., & Floyd, J. (1966). The effect of a pratfall on increasing interpersonal
attractiveness. Psychonomic Science,4, 227-228.
*Arrowood, A. J., & Short, J. A. (1973). Agreement, attraction, and self esteem. Canadian Journal
of Behavioural Science,5, 242-252.
*Asher, N. W. (1974). Manipulating attraction toward the disabled: An application of the
similarity-attraction model (Doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin – Madison,
1974). Dissertation Abstracts International,34(12-B), 6255.
*Atkinson, D. R., Brady, S., & Casas, J. M. (1981). Sexual preference similarity, attitude similar-
ity, and perceived counseling credibility and attractiveness. Journal of Counseling Psychology,
28, 504-509.
*Atkinson, D. R., Ponce, F. Q., & Martinez, F. M. (1984). Effects of ethnic, sex, and attitude simi-
larity on counselor credibility. Journal of Counseling Psychology,31, 588-590.
*Bakken, D. G. (1978). Nonverbal immediacy in dyadic interaction: The effects of sex and infor-
mation about attitude similarity (Doctoral dissertation, Boston University, 1978). Dissertation
Abstracts International,38(12-B), 6227.
*Bailey, R. C., & Chorosevic, P. (1980). Congruency and accuracy of body build perceptions in
dating couples. Social Behavior and Personality,8, 113-115.
*Banikiotes, P. G., & Neimeyer, G. J. (1981). Construct importance and rating similarity as deter-
minants of interpersonal attraction. British Journal of Social Psychology,20, 259-263.
*Baron, R. A., & Kepner, R. C. (1970). Model’s behavior and attraction toward the model as determi-
nants of adult aggressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,14, 335-344.
*Baron, R. A. (1970). Attraction toward the model and model’s competence as determinants of
adult imitative behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,12, 345-351.
*Baron, R. A. (1971). Behavioral effects of interpersonal attraction: Compliance with requests
from liked and disliked others. Psychonomic Science,25, 325-326.
80 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30(1)
*Baskett, G. D. (1969). Interpersonal attraction as a function of attitude similarity-dissimilarity
and cognitive complexity (Doctoral dissertation, University of Texas, 1969). Dissertation
Abstracts,29(10-B), 3931-3932.
*Batchelor, T. R., & Tesser, A. (1971). Attitude base as a moderator of the attitude
similarity-attraction relationship. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,19,
229-236.
*Bell, P., & Baron, R. A. (1974). Environmental influences on attraction: Effects of heat, attitude
similarity, and personal evaluations. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,4, 479-481.
*Benson, N. S. (1972). An investigation of the effects of attitude similarity-dissimilarity and
‘‘aggressiveness’’ on perception of aggression (Doctoral dissertation, Purdue University,
1972). Dissertation Abstracts International,33(6-B), 2801.
*Bergeron, A. P., & Zanna, M. P. (1973). Group membership and belief similarity as determinants
of interpersonal attraction in Peru. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology,4, 397-411.
Berscheid, E., & Walster, E. (1969). Interpersonal attraction. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley
Publishing.
*Black, H. K. (1974). Physical attractiveness and similarity of attitude in interpersonal attraction.
Psychological Reports,35, 403-406.
*Bleda, P. R. (1974). Toward a clarification of the role of cognitive and affective processes in the
similarity-attraction relationship. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,29, 368-373.
*Bleda, P. R., & Castore, C. H. (1973). Social comparison, attraction, and choice of a comparison
other. Memory and Cognition,1, 420-424.
*Bond, M., Byrne, D., & Diamond, M. J. (1968). Effect of occupational prestige and attitude simi-
larity on attraction as a function of assumed similarity of attitude. Psychological Reports,23,
1167-1172.
*Bossert, J. A. (1980). The effects of expectations, behaviors and beliefs on the interpersonal judg-
ments young people make about the elderly (Doctoral dissertation, University of Kansas,
1980). Dissertation Abstracts International,41(5-A), 1834.
*Brink, J. H. (1977). Effect of interpersonal communication on attraction. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology,35, 783-790.
*Brockner, J., & Swap, W. C. (1976). Effects of repeated exposure and attitudinal similarity on
self-disclosure and interpersonal attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
33, 531-540.
*Byrne, D. (1961a). Interpersonal attraction and attitude similarity. Journal of Abnormal and
Social Psychology,62, 713-715.
*Byrne, D. (1961b). Interpersonal attraction as a function of affiliation need and attitude similarity.
Human Relations,14, 283-289.
*Byrne, D. (1962). Response to attitude similarity-dissimilarity as a function of affiliation need.
Journal of Personality,30, 137-149.
*Byrne, D. (1965). Authoritarianism and response to attitude similarity-dissimilarity. Journal of
Social Psychology,66, 251-256.
Byrne, D. (1971). The Attraction Paradigm. New York: Academic Press.
Byrne, D. (1997). An overview (and underview) of research and theory within the attraction para-
digm. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships,14, 417-431.
Byrne, D., & Blaylock, B. (1963). Similarity and assumed similarity of attitudes among husbands
and wives. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,67, 636-640.
Montoya and Horton 81
*Byrne, D., Baskett, G. D., & Hodges, L. (1971). Behavioral indicators of interpersonal attraction.
Journal of Applied Social Psychology,1, 137-149.
*Byrne, D., Bond, M. H., & Diamond, M. J. (1969). Response to political candidates as a function
of attitude similarity-dissimilarity. Human Relations,22, 251-262.
*Byrne, D., & Clore, G. L. (1966). Predicting interpersonal attraction toward strangers presented
in three different stimulus modes. Psychonomic Science,4, 239-240.
*Byrne, D., & Clore, G. L. (1967). Effectance arousal and attraction. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology,6, 1-18.
Byrne, D., & Clore, G. L. (1970). A reinforcement model of evaluative responses. Personality: An
International Journal,1, 103-128.
Byrne, D., & Ervin, C. R. (1969). Attraction toward a Negro stranger as a function of prejudice,
attitude similarity, and the stranger’s evaluation of the subject. Human Relations,22,
397-404.
*Byrne, D., Clore, G. L., & Griffitt, W. (1967). Response discrepancy versus attitude
similarity-dissmilarity as determinants of attraction. Psychonomic Science,7, 397-398.
Byrne, D., Clore, G. L., Griffitt, W., Lamberth, J., & Mitchell, H. E. (1973). When research para-
digms converge: Confrontation or integration? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
28, 313-320.
*Byrne, D., Gouaux, C., Griffitt, W., Lamberth, J., Murakawa, N., Prasad, M., ... Ramirez, M.
(1971). The ubiquitous relationship: Attitude similarity and attraction: A cross cultural study.
Human Relations,24, 201-207.
*Byrne, D., & Griffitt, W. (1966a). A developmental investigation of the law of attraction. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology,4, 699-703.
*Byrne, D., & Griffitt, W. (1966b). Similarity versus liking: A clarification. Psychonomic Science,
6, 295-296.
*Byrne, D., Griffitt, W., & Golightly, C. (1966). Prestige as a factor in determining the effect of
attitude similarity-dissimilarity on attraction. Journal of Personality,34, 434-444.
*Byrne, D., Griffitt, W., Hudgins, W., & Reeves, K. (1969). Attitude similarity-dissimilarity and
attraction: Generality beyond the college sophomore. Journal of Social Psychology,79,
155-161.
*Byrne, D., Griffitt, W., & Stefaniak, D. (1967). Attraction and similarity of personality charac-
teristics. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,5, 82-90.
*Byrne, D., London, O., & Griffitt, W. (1968). The effect of topic importance and attitude
similarity-dissimilarity on attraction in an intrastranger design. Psychonomic Science,11,
303-304.
*Byrne, D., London, O., & Reeves, K. (1968). The effects of physical attractiveness, sex, and atti-
tude similarity on interpersonal attraction. Journal of Personality,36, 259-271.
*Byrne, D., & McGraw, C. (1964). Interpersonal attraction toward Negroes. Human Relations,17,
201-213.
*Byrne, D., & Nelson, D. (1964). Attraction as a function of attitude similarity-dissimilarity: The
effect of topic importance. Psychonomic Science,1, 93-94.
*Byrne, D., & Nelson, D. (1965). Attraction as a linear function of proportion of positive reinfor-
cements. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,1, 659-663.
*Byrne, D., & Nelson, D. (1965). The effect of topic importance and attitude similarity-dissimilarity
on attraction in a multistranger design. Psychonomic Science,3, 449-450.
82 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30(1)
*Byrne, D., Nelson, D., & Reeves, K. (1966). Effects of consensual validation and invalidation on
attraction as a function of verifiability. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,2, 98-107.
Byrne, D., Rasche, L., & Kelley, K. (1974). When ‘‘I like you’’ indicates disagreement: An
experimental differentiation of information and affect. Journal of Research in Personality,
8, 207-217.
*Byrne, D., & Rhamey, R. (1965). Magnitude of positive and negative reinforcements as a
determinant of attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,2, 884-889.
*Byrne, D., & Wong, T. J. (1962). Racial prejudice, interpersonal attraction, and assumed
dissimilarity or attitudes. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,65, 246-253.
*Byrne, D., Young, R. K., & Griffitt, W. (1966). The reinforcement properties of attitude
statements. Journal of Experimental Research in Personality,1, 266-276.
*Cann, A., Calhoun, L. G., & Banks, J. S. (1997). On the role of humor appreciation in interpersonal
attraction: It’s no joking matter. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research,10,77-89.
Carli, L. L., Ganley, R., & Pierce-Otay, A. (1991). Similarity and satisfaction in roommate
relationships. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,17, 419-426.
*Cheney, T. (1975). Attitude similarity, topic importance, and psychotherapeutic attraction.
Journal of Counseling Psychology,22, 2-5.
*Cherry, F., Byrne, D., & Mitchell, H. E. (1976). Clogs in the bogus pipeline: Demand
characteristics and social desirability. Journal of Research in Personality,10, 69-75.
*Church, M. A. (1976). A test of four alternative hypotheses of the influences of expressed
attitudes, personal evaluations and self-esteem on attraction (Doctoral dissertation, University
of Miami, 1976). Dissertation Abstracts International,36(12-B), 6440-6441.
*Clore, G. L., & Baldridge, B. (1968). Interpersonal attraction: The role of agreement and topic
interest. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,9, 340-346.
*Clore, G. L., & Baldridge, B. (1970). The behavior of item weights in attitude-attraction research.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,6, 177-186.
*Clore, G. L., & Gormly, J. B. (1974). Knowing, feeling, and liking: A psychophysiological study
of attraction. Journal of Research in Personality,8, 218-230.
*Condon, J. W., & Crano, W. D. (1988). Inferred evaluation and the relation between attitude simi-
larity and interpersonal attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,54, 789-797.
*Daher, D. M., & Banikiotes, P. G. (1976). Interpersonal attraction and rewarding aspects of dis-
closure content and level. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,33, 492-496.
*Davis, D. (1981). Implications for interaction versus effectance as mediators of the
similarity-attraction relationship. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,17, 96-117.
*de Wolfe, T. E., & Jackson, L. A. (1984). Birds of a brighter feather: Level of moral reasoning
and similarity of attitude as determinants of interpersonal attraction. Psychological Reports,54,
303-308.
*Duck, S. W., & Craig, G. (1975). Effects of type of information upon interpersonal attraction.
Social Behavior and Personality,3, 157-164.
*Duck, S. W., & Craig, G. (1977). The relative attractiveness of different types of information
about another person. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology,16, 229-233.
*Dutton, D. G. (1969). Role performance and social perception. Unpublished doctoral disserta-
tion, University of Toronto.
Dutton, D. G., & Aron, A. P. (1974). Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under
conditions of high anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,30, 510-517.
Montoya and Horton 83
*Efran, M. G. (1969). Visual interaction and interpersonal attraction. Unpublished doctoral
dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin.
*Erwin, P. G. (1981). The role of attitudinal similarity and perceived acceptance evaluation in
interpersonal attraction. Journal of Psychology,109, 133-136.
*Erwin, P. G. (1982). The role of attitudinal similarity and direct acceptance evaluations in
attraction. Journal of Psychology,111, 97-100.
*Ettinger, R. F. (1970). Interpersonal attraction in a simulated social interaction (Doctoral
dissertation, Purdue University, 1970). Dissertation Abstracts International,30(9-B), 4359.
*Ettinger, R. F., Nowicki, S., & Nelson, D. A. (1970). Interpersonal attraction and the approval
motive. Journal of Experimental Research in Personality,4, 95-99.
*Feren, D. B., Carroll, S. J., & Olian, J. D. (1988). Effects of managerial performance and attitu-
dinal similarity on interpersonal attraction. Basic and Applied Social Psychology,9, 33-44.
Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
*Fish, R. A. (1972). Interpersonal attraction as a function of distortion of attitude-similarity
feedback (Doctoral dissertation, Purdue University, 1972). Dissertation Abstracts
International,32(8-B), 4842.
Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to the-
ory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Fisher, R. A. (1928). Statistical methods for research workers. Oxford, UK: Stechert.
Foster, C. A., Witcher, B. S., Campbell, W. K., & Green, J. D. (1998). Arousal and attraction: Evi-
dence for automatic and controlled processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
74, 86-101.
*Franklin, B. J. (1971). Attitude similarity dissimilarity, dogmatism, and interpersonal attraction.
Psychology: A Journal of Human Behavior,8, 4-11.
*Gatton, M. J. (1971). Behavioral aspects of interpersonal attraction (Doctoral dissertation, Purdue
University, 1971). Dissertation Abstracts International,31(8-B), 4991.
*Gatton, M. J., & Nelson, D. A. (1973). Interpersonal attraction in a role played interaction.
Psychological Reports,32, 627-634.
*Gaynor, C. A. (1976). An investigation of client attraction to therapists based on the Byrne model
(Doctoral dissertation, University of Oklahoma, 1976). Dissertation Abstracts International,
36(8-B), 4154.
*Geen, R. G., & Stonner, D. (1974). Similarity, conditioned affect, and interpersonal attraction.
Journal of Psychology,87, 111-118.
*Gentry, K. W. (1979). Interpersonal attraction: A behavioral reinterpretation (Doctoral disserta-
tion, University of Southern California, 1979). Dissertation Abstracts International,40(4-B),
1954.
Gillis, J. C., & Avis, W. E. (1980). The male taller norm in mate selection. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin,6, 396-401.
*Goldman, J. A., & Olczak, P. V. (1976). Psychosocial maturity and interpersonal attraction.
Journal of Research in Personality,10, 146-154.
*Golightly, C., Huffman, D. M., & Byrne, D. (1972). Liking and loaning. Journal of Applied
Psychology,56, 521-523.
*Gonzales, M. H., Davis, J. M., Loney, G.L., Lukens, C. K., & Junghans, C. M. (1983).
Interactional approach to interpersonal attraction. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology,44, 1192-1197.
84 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30(1)
*Good, K. C., & Good, L. R. (1973). Attitude similarity and attraction to an instructor.
Psychological Reports,33, 335-337.
*Good, L. R. (1975). Attitude similarity and attraction to a psychotherapist. Journal of Clinical
Psychology,31, 707-709.
*Good, L. R., & Good, K. C. (1972). Role of vindication motivation in the attitude similarity
attraction relationship. Psychological Reports,31, 769-770.
*Good, L. R., & Good, K. C. (1973). Fear of appearing incompetent and attraction toward agreeing
and disagreeing strangers. Psychological Reports,33, 673-674.
*Good, L. R., Good, K. C., & Golden, S. B. (1974). Attitude similarity and attraction to a company.
Psychology: A Journal of Human Behavior,11, 52-55.
*Gormly, A. V., & Clore, G. L. (1969). Attraction, dogmatism, and attitude similarity-dissimilar-
ity. Journal of Experimental Research in Personality,4, 9-13.
*Gormly, A. V., & Gormly, J. B. (1984). The impact of discussion on interpersonal attraction. Bul-
letin of the Psychonomic Society,22, 45-48.
*Gormly, J. B. (1974). A comparison of predictions from consistency and affect theories for
arousal during interpersonal disagreement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
30, 658-663.
*Gouaux, C. (1971). Induced affective states and interpersonal attraction. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology,20, 37-43.
*Gouaux, C., & Summers, K. (1973). Interpersonal attraction as a function of affective state and
affective change. Journal of Research in Personality,7, 254-260.
*Griffitt, W. B. (1966). Interpersonal attraction as a function of self-concept and personality simi-
larity-dissimilarity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,4, 581-584.
*Griffitt, W. B. (1967). Personality similarity, self-concept, and positiveness of personality
description as determinants of interpersonal attraction (Doctoral dissertation, University of
Texas, 1967). Dissertation Abstracts,28(5-A), 1900-1901.
*Griffitt, W. B. (1968). Anticipated reinforcement and attraction. Psychonomic Science,11, 355.
*Griffitt, W. B. (1968). Attraction toward a stranger as a function of direct and associated reinfor-
cement. Psychonomic Science,11, 147-148.
*Griffitt, W. B. (1970). Environmental effects on interpersonal affective behavior: Ambient
effective temperature and attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,15,
240-244.
*Griffitt, W. B., & Guay, P. (1969). ‘‘Object’’ evaluation and conditioned affect. Journal of
Experimental Research in Personality,4, 1-8.
*Griffitt, W. B., & Jackson, T. (1973). Simulated jury decisions, the influence of jury defendant
attitude similarity-dissimilarity. Social Behavior and Personality,1, 1-7.
*Griffitt, W. B., & Nelson, P. (1970). Short term temporal stability of interpersonal attraction. Psy-
chonomic Science,18, 119-120.
*Griffitt, W. B., & Veitch, R. (1974). Preacquaintance attitude similarity and attraction revisited:
Ten days in a fall-out shelter. Sociometry,37, 163-173.
*Grover, S. L., & Brockner, J. (1989). Empathy and the relationship between attitudinal similarity
and attraction. Journal of Research in Personality,23, 469-479.
*Gudykunst, W. B., Yang, S., & Nishida, T. (1985). A cross cultural test of uncertainty reduction
theory: Comparisons of acquaintances, friends, and dating relationships in Japan, Korea, and
the United States. Human Communication Research,11, 407-455.
Montoya and Horton 85
*Hackman, H. W., & Claiborn, C. D. (1982). An attributional approach to counselor attractiveness.
Journal of Counseling Psychology,29, 224-231.
*Hardy, D. (1982). Personality similarity, interpersonal attraction and groups. Unpublished mas-
ter’s thesis, Michigan State University.
Hastie, R., & Kumar, P. A. (1979). Person memory: Personality traits as organizing principles in
memory for behaviors. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,37, 25-38.
Hedges, L. V., & Vevea, J. L. (1998). Fixed- and random-effects models in meta-analysis. Psycho-
logical Methods,3, 486-504.
*Hendrick, C., Bixenstine, V. E., & Hawkins, G. (1971).Race versus belief similarity as determinants
of attraction: A search for a fair test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,17, 250-258.
*Hendrick, C., & Seyfried, B. A. (1974). Salience of similarity awareness and attraction: A com-
parison of balance vs. reinforcement predictions. Memory and Cognition,2, 1-4.
*Hendrick, C., Stikes, C. S., & Murray, E. J. (1972). Race versus belief similarity as determinants of
attraction in a live interactionsetting. Journal of Experimental Research in Personality,6,162-168.
*Hendrick, C., & Taylor, S. P. (1971). Effects of belief similarity and aggression on attraction and
counteraggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,17, 342-349.
Herbst, K. C., Gaertner, L., & Insko, C. A. (2003). My head says ‘‘yes,’’ but my heart says ‘‘no:’’
Cognitive and affective attraction as a function of similarity to ideal self. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology,84, 1206-1219.
*Hester, L. R. (1975). Supervisor attraction as a function of level of supervisor skillfulness and
supervisees’ perceived similarity (Doctoral dissertation, Vanderbilt University, 1975). Disser-
tation Abstracts International,35(12-B), 6095.
Higgins, E. T., & Winter, L. (1993). The ‘‘acquisition principle’’: How beliefs about a behavior’s
prolonged circumstances influence correspondent inference. Personality and Social Psychol-
ogy Bulletin,19, 605-619.
Hill, C. T., Rubin, Z., & Peplau, L. A. (1976). Break-ups before marriage: The end of 103 affairs.
Journal of Social Issues,32, 147-168.
Hoffman, L. R., & Maier, N. R. F. (1966). An experimental reexamination of the
similarity-attraction hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,3, 145-152.
*Horai, J., & Wasserman, L. (1974). Machiavellianism and attitude similarity-dissimilarity as
antecedents of interpersonal attraction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,1, 81-82.
Horton, R., & Montoya, R. M. (2012). The informativeness of different types of stimuli. Unpub-
lished manuscript.
*Hoyle, R. H. (1993). Interpersonal attraction in the absence of explicit attitudinal information.
Social Cognition,11, 309-320.
*Insko, C. A., Thompson, V. D., Stroebe, W., Shaud, J. A., Pinner, G., & Layton, B. D. (1973).
Implied evaluation and the similarity-attraction effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psy-
chology,25, 297-308.
*Insko, C. A., & Wetzel, C. (1974). Preacquaintance attraction as an interactive function of the pro-
portion and number of similar attitudes. Representative Research in Social Psychology,5,27-33.
*Jackson, L. A., & Mascaro, G. F. (1971). Interpersonal attraction as a function of attitude simi-
larity dissimilarity and desire for certainty. Psychological Reports,28, 856-858.
*Jamieson, D. W., Lydon, J. E., & Zanna, M. P. (1987). Attitude and activity preference similarity:
Differential bases of interpersonal attraction for low and high self-monitors. Journal of Person-
ality and Social Psychology,53, 1052-1060.
86 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30(1)
*Jellison, J. M., & Mills, J. (1967). Effect of similarity and fortune of the other on attraction. Jour-
nal of Personality and Social Psychology,5, 459-462.
*Jellison, J. M., & Oliver, D. F. (1983). Attitude similarity and attraction: An impression manage-
ment approach. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,9, 111-115.
Jia, L., & Singh, R. (2009). Asymmetrical attention allocation to dissimilar and similar attitudes.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,45, 1259-1265.
*Johnson, C. D., Gormly, J., & Gormly, A. (1973). Disagreements and self-esteem: Support for
the competence reinforcement model of attraction. Journal of Research in Personality,7,
165-172.
*Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, S. (1972). The effects of attitude similarity, expectation of goal facil-
itation, and actual goal facilitation on interpersonal attraction. Journal of Experimental Social
Psychology,8, 197-206.
*Johnson, M. J., & Tesser, A. (1972). Some interactive effects of evaluative similarity, structural
similarity and type of interpersonal situation on interpersonal attraction. Journal of Experimen-
tal Research in Personality,6, 154-161.
*Johnson, S., & Johnson, D. W. (1972). The effects of other’s actions, attitude similarity, and race
on attraction towards others. Human Relations,25, 121-130.
Jones, E. E., & Davis, K. E. (1965). From acts to dispositions: The attribution process in per-
son perception. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 2)
(pp. 219-266). New York, NY: Academic Press.
*Kaplan, M. F. (1981). Amount of information and polarity of attraction. Bulletin of the Psycho-
nomic Society,18, 23-26.
Kaplan, M. F., & Anderson, N. H. (1973). Information integration theory and reinforcement theory
as approaches to interpersonal attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,28,
301-312.
*Kaplan, M. F., & Olczak, P. V. (1970). Attitude similarity and direct reinforcement as determi-
nants of attraction. Journal of Experimental Research in Personality,4, 186-189.
*Karp, E. J. (1972). Changes in interpersonal attraction: Effects of physical attractiveness and
attitude similarity as measured by the pupilometry technique (Doctoral dissertation, Emory
University, 1972). Dissertation Abstracts International,33(4-B), 1819-1820.
Katz, I., Cohen, M., & Castiolone, L. (1963). Effect of one type of need complementarity on
marriage partners’ conformity to one another’s judgments. Journal of Abnormal and Social
Psychology,67, 8-14.
*Kerber, K. W. (1981). Perceived physiological activity and interpersonal attraction. Journal of
Social Psychology,113, 101-113.
*Kleck, R. E., & Rubenstein, C. (1975). Physical attractiveness, perceived attitude similarity, and
interpersonal attraction in an opposite sex encounter. Journal of Personality and Social Psy-
chology,31, 107-114.
*Klentz, B., Beaman, A. L., Mapelli, S., & Ullrich, J. (1987). Perceived physical attractiveness of
supporters and nonsupporters of the women’s movement: An attitude-similarity-mediated error
(AS-ME). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,13, 513-523.
*Knecht, L., Lippman, D., & Swap, W. (1973). Similarity, attraction, and self disclosure. Proceed-
ings of the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, 205-206.
*Korte, J. R., Kimble, C. E., & Cole, J. R. (1978). Does locus of control similarity increase attrac-
tion? Psychological Reports,43, 1183-1188.
Montoya and Horton 87
*Krivonos, P. D., Byrne, D., & Friedrich, G. W. (1976). The effect of attitude similarity on task
performance. Journal of Applied Social Psychology,6, 307-313.
*La Gaipa, J. J., & Werner, R. E. (1971). Effects of topic relevancy and attitude similarity on two
measures of affiliation. Psychonomic Science,24, 67-68.
*Lamberth, J., Gouaux, C., & Padd, W. (1973). The affective eliciting and reducing properties of
attraction stimuli. Social Behavior and Personality,1, 93-107.
*Lamberth, J., & Padd, W. (1972). Students’ attitudes and absenteeism: A possible link. Psycho-
logical Reports,31, 35-40.
*Layton, B. D., & Insko, C. A. (1974). Anticipated interaction and the similarity attraction effect.
Sociometry,37, 149-162.
*Leonard, R. (1973). Self-concept as a factor in the similarity attraction paradigm. Proceeding of
the 81st American Psychological Association Convention, 8, 199-200.
*Leonard, R. L. (1976). Cognitive complexity and the similarity attraction paradigm. Journal of
Research in Personality,10, 83-88.
*Lerner, M. J., & Agar, E. (1972). The consequences of perceived similarity: Attraction and rejec-
tion, approach and avoidance. Journal of Experimental Research in Personality,6, 69-75.
Lewis, K. N., & Walsh, W. B. (1980). Effects of value-communication style and similarity of val-
ues on counselor evaluation. Journal of Counseling Psychology,27, 305-314.
*Lombardo, J. P., Weiss, R. F., & Stich, M. H. (1971). Interpersonal attraction as a function of
amount of information supporting the subject’s opinions. Psychonomic Science,24, 79-80.
*Lydon, J. E., Jamieson, D. W., & Zanna, M. P. (1988). Interpersonal similarity and the social and
intellectual dimensions of first impressions. Social Cognition,6, 269-286.
*McCarthy, B., & Duck, S. W. (1976). Friendship duration and responses to attitudinal agreement
disagreement. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology,15, 377-386.
*McGinley, H. (1980). A test for artifactual effects in an attitude similarity/interpersonal attraction
study. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,16, 137-139.
*McGinley, H., & Reiner, M. (1979). Contingency awareness and interpersonal attraction. Bulletin
of the Psychonomic Society,13, 175-178.
McLaughlin,B. (1970). Similarity, recall, and appraisal ofothers. Journal of Personality,38,106-116.
McLaughlin, B. (1971). Effects of similarity and likableness on attraction and recall. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology,20, 65-69.
*Michinov, E., & Monteil, J. (2002). The similarity-attraction relationship revisited: Divergence
between the affective and behavioral facets of attraction. European Journal of Social Psychol-
ogy,32, 485-500.
*Miller, A. G. (1972). Effect of attitude similarity dissimilarity on the utilization of additional
stimulus inputs in judgments of interpersonal attraction. Psychonomic Science,26,
199-203.
*Mitchell,H. E., & Byrne, D. (1973). Thedefendant’s dilemma:Effects of jurors’ attitudes and author-
itarianism on judicial decisions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,25,123-129.
*Montoya, R. M., & Horton, R. (2004). The importance of overall evaluation as a determinant of
interpersonal attraction in the similarity effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
86, 696-712.
Montoya, R. M., Horton, R. S., & Kirchner, J. (2008). Is actual similarity necessary for attraction?
A meta-analysis of actual and perceived similarity. Journal of Social and Personal Relation-
ships,25, 889-922.
88 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30(1)
Montoya, R. M., & Insko, C. A. (2008). Toward a more complete understanding of the reciprocity
of liking effect. European Journal of Social Psychology,38, 477-498.
*Moreland, R. L., & Zajonc, R. B. (1982). Exposure effects in person perception: Familiarity,
similarity, and attraction. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,18, 395-415.
*Moss, M. K., & Andrasik, F. (1973). Belief similarity and interracial attraction. Journal of Per-
sonality,41, 192-205.
*Moss, M. K., Byrne, D., Baskett, G. D., & Sachs, D. H. (1975). Informational versus affective
determinants of interpersonal attraction. Journal of Social Psychology,95, 39-53.
*Murray, R. P., & McGinley, H. (1972). Looking as a measure of attraction. Journal of Applied
Social Psychology,2, 267-274.
Murstein, B. I., & Beck, G. D. (1972). Person perception, marriage adjustment, and social desir-
ability. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,39, 396-403.
*Neimeyer, R. A., & Mitchell, K. A. (1988). Similarity and attraction: A longitudinal study. Jour-
nal of Social and Personal Relationships,5, 131-148.
*Nelson, D. A., & Meadow, B. L. (1971). Attitude similarity, interpersonal attraction, actual suc-
cess, and the evaluative perception of that success. Proceedings of the Annual Convention of
the American Psychological Association,6, 283-284.
Newcomb, T. M. (1956). The prediction of interpersonal attraction. American Psychologist,11,
575-586.
*Nicholas, K. B., & McGinley, H. (1982). A clash of theoretical orientations: Demand character-
istics and the attraction paradigm. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,19, 93-96.
*Novak, D. W., & Lerner, M. J. (1968). Rejection as a consequence of perceived similarity. Jour-
nal of Personality and Social Psychology,9, 147-152.
*Obot, I. S. (1988). Value systems and cross-cultural contact: The effect of perceived similarity
and stability on social evaluations. International Journal of Intercultural Relations,12,
363-379.
*Olczak, P. V., & Goldman, J. A. (1975). Self actualization as a moderator of the relationship
between attitude similarity and attraction. Journal of Psychology,89, 195-202.
*Oliver, E. C. (1978). Self-perception processes in attraction: The role of false and real affective
responses (Doctoral dissertation, Kansas State University, 1978). Dissertation Abstracts Inter-
national,38(9-B), 4540.
*Orpen, C. (1972). The effect of race and similar attitudes on interpersonal attraction among white
Rhodesians. Journal of Social Psychology,86, 143-145.
*Page, R. A., & Moss, M. K. (1975). Attitude similarity and attraction: The effects of the bogus
pipeline. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,5, 63-65.
*Palmer, D. L., & Kalin, R. (1985). Dogmatic responses to belief dissimilarity in the ‘‘bogus stran-
ger’’ paradigm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,48, 171-179.
*Palmer, J. A. (1969). Vindication, evaluation, and the effect of the stranger’s competence on the
attitude similarity-attraction function (Doctoral dissertation, University of Texas at Austin,
1969). Dissertation Abstracts,30(7-B), 3412.
*Palmer, J. A., & Byrne, D. (1970). Attraction toward dominant and submissive strangers:
Similarity versus complementarity. Journal of Experimental Research in Personality,4,
108-115.
*Pandey, J. (1978). Dependency similarity, attraction and perceived helpfulness. Social Behavior
and Personality,6, 37-41.
Montoya and Horton 89
*Pandey, J., & Rastogi, R. (1978). Intolerance of ambiguity and response to attitude similarity
dissimilarity. Psychologia: An International Journal of Psychology in the Orient,21,
104-106.
*Panzer, M. R. (1975). Interpersonal attraction and source credibility as a function of attitude simi-
larity and intelligence level (Doctoral dissertation, State University of New York – Farming-
dale, 1975). Dissertation Abstracts International,35(12-B), 6107.
Peterson, J., & Miller, L. (1980). Physical attractiveness and marriage adjustment in older Amer-
ican couples. Journal of Psychology,105, 247-252.
*Pilkington, N. W., & Lydon, J. E. (1997). The relative effect of attitude similarity and attitude
dissimilarity on interpersonal attraction: Investigating the moderating roles of prejudice and
group membership. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,23, 107-122.
*Posavac, E. J. (1971). Need for approval as a moderator of interpersonal attraction based on atti-
tude similarity. Journal of Social Psychology,85, 141-142.
*Posavac, E. J., & McKillip, J. (1973). Effects of similarity and endorsement frequency on attrac-
tion and expected agreement. Journal of Experimental Research in Personality,6, 357-362.
*Posavac, E. J., & Pasko, S. J. (1971). Interpersonal attraction and confidence of attraction ratings
as a function of number of attitudes and attitude similarity. Psychonomic Science,23, 433-435.
*Posavac, E. J., & Pasko, S.J. (1974). Attraction, personality similarity, and popularity of the per-
sonality of a stimulus person. Journal of Social Psychology,92, 269-275.
*Potts, G. T. (1969). Interpersonal attraction as a function of personality similarity and social
desirability (Doctoral dissertation, University of Iowa, 1969). Dissertation Abstracts,
29(11-A), 4105-4106.
Reeder, G. D. (2009). Mindreading: Judgments about intentionality and motives in dispositional
inference. Psychological Inquiry,20, 1-18.
Reilly, M. S. A., Commins, W. D., & Stefic, E. C. (1960). The complementarity of personality
needs in friendship choice. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,61, 292-294.
*Roach, D. A. (1985). Foundations for an interpersonal uncertainty construct and the relationships
among attitude similarity, uncertainty and attraction (Doctoral dissertation, University of Okla-
homa, 1985). Dissertation Abstracts International,45(8-A), 2304.
*Rosenbaum, M. E. (1986). The repulsion hypothesis: On the nondevelopment of relationships.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,51, 1156-1166.
*Rosenblatt, A., & Greenberg, J. (1988). Depression and interpersonal attraction: The role of per-
ceived similarity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,55, 112-119.
Rosenblood, L. (1970). Information saliency: An explanation of the set size effect in impression
formation and similarity-attraction research. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Ohio State
University.
*Rotton, J., Barry, T., Frey, J., & Soler, E. (1978). Air pollution and interpersonal attraction. Jour-
nal of Applied Social Psychology,8, 57-71.
*Russ, R. C., Gold, J. A., & Stone, W. F. (1980). Opportunity for thought as a mediator of attrac-
tion to a dissimilar stranger: A further test of an information seeking interpretation. Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology,16, 562-572.
*Sachs, D. H. (1975). Belief similarity and attitude similarity as determinants of interpersonal
attraction. Journal of Research in Personality,9, 57-65.
*Sachs, D. H. (1976). The effects of similarity, evaluation, and self-esteem on interpersonal
attraction. Representative Research in Social Psychology,7, 44-50.
90 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30(1)
*Santee, R. T. (1976). The effect on attraction of attitude similarity as information about interper-
sonal reinforcement contingencies. Sociometry,39, 153-156.
*Schenck, H., & William, J. (1978). The effects of similarity, stereotyping, and message agree-
ment on interpersonal perception. Human Communication Research,5, 15-26.
*Schlenker, B. R., Brown, R. C., & Tedeschi, J. T. (1975). Attraction and expectations of harm and
benefits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,32, 664-670.
*Seta, J. J., Martin, L., & Capehart, G. Effects of contrast and generalization on the attitude simi-
larity attraction relationship. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,37, 462-467.
Shaffer, D. R., & Tabor, C. (1980). Salience of own and others’ attitudes as determinants of
self–persuasion. The Journal of Social Psychology,111, 225-236.
*Shaffer, D. R., & Wallace, A. (1990). Belief congruence and evaluator homophobia as determi-
nants of the attractiveness of competent homosexual and heterosexual males. Journal of Psy-
chology and Human Sexuality,3, 67-87.
*Shaikh, T., & Kanekar, S. (1994). Attitudinal similarity and affiliation need as determinants of
interpersonal attraction. Journal of Social Psychology,134, 257-259.
*Sharma, V., & Kaur, T. (1994). Interpersonal attraction in relation to similarity and help. Psycho-
logical Studies,39(2, 3), 84-87.
*Sheffield, J., & Byrne, D. (1967). Attitude similarity-dissimilarity, authoritarianism, and interper-
sonal attraction. Journal of Social Psychology,71, 117-123.
*Sherman, R. C. (1969). The effects of effectance arousal, patterning of information, and attitude
similarity upon the intensity of interpersonal attraction responses (Doctoral dissertation, Iowa
State University, 1969). Dissertation Abstracts,30(6-A), 2621.
*Sherman, R. C. (1971). Social perception and initial liking as a function of prior exposure to an
arousing situation, target variability, and attitude similarity-dissimilarity. Perceptual and
Motor Skills,33, 487-494.
*Shuntich, R. J. (1973). The effects of exposure and attitudinal similarity on human physical
aggression (Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University, 1973). Dissertation Abstracts Interna-
tional,33(9-B), 4552.
*Shuntich, R. J. (1976). Some effects of attitudinal similarity and exposure on attraction and
aggression. Journal of Research in Personality,10, 155-165.
*Sidera, J. A. (1983). The effects of need for cognition on latitudes of acceptance, noncommit-
ment, and rejection of issues and attraction to similar and dissimilar strangers (Doctoral
dissertation, University of Notre Dame, 1983). Dissertation Abstracts International,
43(12-B), 4201.
*Siegel, H. D. (1977). The effect of attitude similarity and need gratification on romantic attraction
toward males in females (Doctoral dissertation, Hofstra University, 1977). Dissertation
Abstracts International,38(4-B), 1960.
Simons, J. (2008). Attitude similarity and attraction: Trust as a robust mediator. Unpublished mas-
ter’s thesis, National University of Singapore.
*Singh, R. (1973). Attraction as a function of similarity in attitudes and personality characteristics.
Journal of Social Psychology,91, 87-95.
*Singh, R. (1974). Reinforcement and attraction: Specifying the effects of affective states. Journal
of Research in Personality,8, 294-305.
Singh, R., & Ho, S. Y. (2000). Attitudes and attraction: A new test of the attraction, repulsion, and
similarity-dissimilarity asymmetry. British Journal of Social Psychology,39, 197-211.
Montoya and Horton 91
*Singh, R., & Tan, L. S. (1992). Attitudes and attraction: A test of the similarity-attraction and
dissimilarity-repulsion hypotheses. British Journal of Social Psychology,31, 227-238.
*Singh, R., & Teoh, J. (1999). Attitudes and attraction: A test of two hypotheses for the similarity
dissimilarity asymmetry. British Journal of Social Psychology,38, 427-443.
Singh, R., Ho, L. J., Tan, H. L., & Bell, P. A. (2007). Attitudes, personal evaluations, cognitive
evaluation, and interpersonal attraction: On the direct, indirect, and reverse-causal effects. Brit-
ish Journal of Social Psychology,46, 19-42.
Singh, R., Lin, P. K., Tan, H. L., & Ho, L. J. (2008). Evaluations, attitude similarity, and interper-
sonal attraction: Testing the hypothesis of weighting interference across responses. Basic and
Applied Social Psychology,30, 241-252.
Singh, R., Ng, R., Ong, E. L., & Lin, P. K. F. (2008). Different mediators of the age, sex, and attitude
similarity effects in interpersonal attraction. Basic and Applied Social Psychology,30,1-17.
*Smeaton, G., Byrne, D., & Murnen, S. K. (1989). The repulsion hypothesis revisited: Similarity
irrelevance or dissimilarity bias? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,56, 54-59.
*Smith, A. J. (1957). Similarity of values and its relation to acceptance and the projection of simi-
larity. Journal of Psychology,43, 251-260.
Smith, E. R., & Collins, E. C. (2009). Contextualizing person perception: Distributed social cogni-
tion. Psychological Review,116, 343-364.
*Smith, J. M., Bell, P. A., & Fusco, M. E. (1988). The influence of attraction on a simulated com-
mons dilemma. Journal of General Psychology,115, 277-283.
*Smith, R. E. (1971). Observational learning of modeled responses under shock-avoidance condi-
tions as a function of attitude similarity and attraction toward the model. Psychonomic Science,
22, 123-124.
*Smith, R. E. (1972). Social anxiety as a moderator variable in the attitude similarity-attraction
relationship. Journal of Experimental Research in Personality,6, 22-28.
*Smith, R. E., Meadow, B. L., Sisk, T. K. (1970). Attitude similarity, interpersonal attraction, and
evaluative social perception. Psychonomic Science,18, 226-227.
*Snyder, C. R., & Endelman, J. R. (1979). Effects of degree of interpersonal similarity on physical
distance and self reported attraction: A comparison of uniqueness and reinforcement theory
predictions. Journal of Personality,47, 492-505.
Snyder, M., & Ebbesen, E. B. (1972). Dissonance awareness: A test of dissonance theory versus
self-perception theory. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,8, 502-517.
*Snyder, R. A. (1977). Subject competence and role-position of the stimulus-person as moderators
of the attitude similarity/attraction relationship (Doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland
at College Park, 1977). Dissertation Abstracts International,37(11-B), 5872.
*Snyder, R. A., & Morris, J. H. (1978). Competence as a moderator of the similarity/attraction
relationship: Development and application of a new index. Journal of Psychology,99, 235-244.
Spuhler, J. N. (1968). Assortative mating with respect to physical characteristics. Eugenics Quar-
terly,15, 128-140.
Stallings, R. B. (1970). Personality similarity and evaluative meaning as conditioners of attraction.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,14, 77-82.
*Stapleton, R. E., Nacci, P., & Tedeschi, J. T. (1973). Interpersonal attraction and the reciprocation
of benefits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,28, 199-205.
*Steele, M. E., & McGlynn, R. P. (1979). Effects of affective value and similarity on attraction.
Journal of Social Psychology,108, 111-119.
92 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30(1)
*Stephan, C. (1973). Attribution of intention and perception of attitude as a function of liking and
similarity. Sociometry,36, 463-475.
*Stephan, W. G., & Beane, W. E. (1978). The effects of belief similarity and ethnicity on liking
and attributions for performance. Interamerican Journal of Psychology,12, 153-159.
Stevens, G., Owens, D., & Schaefer, E. C. (1990). Education and attractiveness in marriage
choices. Social Psychology Quarterly,55, 62-70.
*Storms, M. D., & Thomas, G. C. (1977). Reactions to physical closeness. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology,35, 412-418.
*Stroebe, W., Insko, C. A., Thompson, V. D., & Layton, B. D. (1971). Effects of physical
attractiveness, attitude similarity, and sex on various aspects of interpersonal attraction.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,18, 79-91.
*Sung, Y. H. (1975). Effects of attitude similarity and favorableness of information on Bayesian
decision making in a realistic task. Journal of Applied Psychology,60, 616-620.
*Sunnafrank, M. (1983). Attitude similarity and interpersonal attraction in communication
processes: In pursuit of an ephemeral influence. Communication Monographs,50,
273-284.
*Sunnafrank, M. (1984). A communication-based perspective on attitude similarity and
interpersonal attraction in early acquaintance. Communication Monographs,51, 372-380.
*Sunnafrank, M. (1985). Attitude similarity and interpersonal attraction during early
communicative relationships: A research note on the generalizability of findings to
opposite-sex relationships. Western Journal of Speech Communication,49, 73-80.
*Sunnafrank, M. (1986). Communicative influences on perceived similarity and attraction: An
expansion of the interpersonal goals perspective. Western Journal of Speech Communication,
50, 158-170.
Sunnafrank, M. (1992). On debunking the attitude similarity myth. Communication Monographs,
59, 164-179.
*Sunnafrank, M. J., & Miller, G. R. (1981). The role of initial conversations in determining
attraction to similar and dissimilar strangers. Human Communication Research,8, 16-25.
Susanne, C., & Lepage, Y. (1988). Assortative mating for anthropometric characters. In C. G. N.
Mascie-Taylor and A. J. Boyce (Eds.), Human mating patterns (pp. 83-99). Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press.
*Sziraki, M. (1985). Distortions in attributions: The effect of liking, similarity, and severity of an
accident on attributed blame (Doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto, 1985). Dissertation
Abstracts International,46(5-B), 1746.
*Tan, D. T., & Singh, R. (1995). Attitudes and attraction: A developmental study of the similarity
attraction and dissimilarity repulsion hypotheses. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,
21, 975-986.
*Tesch, F. E., Huston, T. L., & Indenbaum, E. A. (1973). Attitude similarity, attraction, and phys-
ical proximity in a dynamic space. Journal of Applied Social Psychology,3, 63-72.
*Tesser, A. (1969). Trait similarity and trait evaluation as correlates of attraction. Psychonomic
Science,15, 319-320.
Tesser, A. (1971). Evaluative and structural similarity of attitudes as determinants of interpersonal
attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,18, 92-96.
*Tesser, A. (1972). Attitude similarity and intercorrelations as determinants of interpersonal
attraction. Journal of Experimental Research in Personality, 6(2-3), 142-153.
Montoya and Horton 93
*Tesser, A. (1993). The importance of heritability in psychological research: The case of attitudes.
Psychological Review,100, 129-142.
*Thornton, B., Ryckman, R. M., & Gold, J. A. (1981). Sensation seeking as a determinant of
interpersonal attraction toward similar and dissimilar others. Journal of Mind and Behavior,
2, 85-91.
*Tornatzky, L., & Geiwitz, J. P. (1968). The effects of threat and attraction on interpersonal
bargaining. Psychonomic Science,13, 125-126.
*Touhey, J. C. (1973). Attitude similarity and attraction: The predictability of a stranger’s
attitudes. Journal of Social Psychology,90, 251-257.
*Touhey, J. C. (1975). Interpersonal congruency, attitude similarity, and interpersonal attraction.
Journal of Research in Personality,9, 66-73.
*Trautt, G. M., Finer, W. D., & Calisher, S. B. (1980). Therapeugenic factors in psychotherapy:
The effect of attitude similarity on therapist credibility and attraction. Journal of Clinical
Psychology,36, 743-747.
*Triandis, H. C. (1961). A note on Rokeach’s theory of prejudice. Journal of Abnormal and Social
Psychology,62, 184-186.
*Veitch, R., & Griffitt, W. (1973). Attitude commitment: Its impact on the similarity attraction
relationship. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1(5-A), 295-297.
Walster, E., Walster, G. W., & Berscheid, E. (1978). Equity: Theory and Research. Boston: Allyn
and Bacon.
*Wasserman, L. M. (1975). The effects of Machiavellianism, expected reward, and attitudinal
similarity-dissimilarity upon aggression (Doctoral dissertation, Hofstra University, 1975). Dis-
sertation Abstracts International,35(12-B, Pt 1), 6171.
*Welsh, W. J. (1973). Attitude similarity and interpersonal distance: A study of the response gen-
eralization of Byrne’s law of attraction (Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University,
1973). Dissertation Abstracts International,34(2-B), 886.
*Williams, S., Ryckman, R. M., Gold, J., & Lenney, E. (1982). The effects of sensation seeking
and misattribution of arousal on attraction toward similar or dissimilar strangers. Journal of
Research in Personality,16, 217-226.
*Wright, P. H., & Wright, K. D. (1972). Attitude similarity and three ‘‘anticipated rewards’’ as
predictors of attraction to a hypothetical stranger. Representative Research in Social Psychol-
ogy,3, 131-140.
*Wyant, K. W., & Gardner, G. W. (1977). Interpersonal evaluations, attitudes, and attraction.
Journal of Research in Personality,11, 356-367.
*Wyant, K. W., Lippert, J. A., Wyant, F. W., & Moring, D. G. (1977). The duration and general-
ization of attraction. Journal of Research in Personality,11, 347-355.
*Yabrudi, P. F., & Diab, L. N. (1978). The effects of attitude similarity dissimilarity, religion, and
topic importance on interpersonal attraction among Lebanese university students. Journal of
Social Psychology,106, 167-171.
*Yener, B. V. (1982). The influence of clothing color on attraction and impression formation
(Doctoral dissertation, East Carolina University, 1982). Dissertation Abstracts International,
43(6-B), 1809.
94 Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 30(1)
