A communication‐based perspective on attitude similarity and interpersonal attraction in early acquaintance

Abstract

>This study examines past conflicting evidence on the relationship of attitude similarity and interpersonal attraction in early acquaintance. The results suggest that the conflict in the findings is due to differences in the communicative environments used in research. In the present study, attitude similarity and interpersonal attraction were positively related only in highly atypical communicative relationships. These results are interpreted as generally supporting a goal‐oriented perspective on the similarity‐attraction association over traditional social validation and balance perspectives.

Notes

Michael Sunnafrank is Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, University of California, Davis.