Becoming friends by chance

Exploring Within-Gender Differences in Friendships Using an Online Social Network

People tend to befriend others similar to themselves, generating a pattern called homophily. However, existing studies on friendship patterns often rely on surveys that assess the perspective of relatively few participants on their friendships but do not measure actualized friendship patterns. Here, we used data from a large Slovakian online social network to assess the role of gender, age, and body mass index (BMI) in same-gender online connections among more than 400,000 users. We found that age and BMI homophily occurred in both men's and women's same-gender connections, but somewhat more strongly among men's. Yet, as women diverged in BMI, their connections were less likely to be reciprocated. We discuss how the evolutionary legacy of men's coalitional competition (e.g., warfare) and women's mating competition or recruitment of allocare providers might contribute to these patterns in modern same-gender relationships. For example, men's engagement in physical activities may lead to similar formidability levels among their same-gender peers. Altogether, our findings highlight the importance of trait similarity to same-gender friendship patterns.

A Critical Review of the Literature Regarding the Selection of Long-Term Romantic Partners

Research regarding how people choose their long-term romantic partners is extensive, but the understanding of the psychological processes behind these choices, and predicting who people choose, is elusive. This review attempts to examine potential reasons for this elusive nature by first outlining the current state of the literature and then highlighting issues within the current paradigm. First among these issues is a focus on singular perspectives and little attempt to integrate these perspectives with others. Second, many studies focus on increasingly complex designs to explore the predictive utility of trait preferences, attempts which have had only limited success. Third, novel findings appear to be unintegrated with established findings, leaving the potential combination of these ideas unrealized. Finally, long-term romantic partner selection is a complex psychological phenomenon, but current theory and research methodologies are not sufficiently addressing this complexity. This review concludes with suggestions for future research direction, including a focus on the psychology behind the partner selection process and the potential of qualitative enquiry to reveal novel pathways behind these psychological processes. There is a need for an integrative framework that permits the coexistence of established and novel ideas, and multiple perspectives, from both current and future research paradigms.

Physical proximity as pleasure or pain? A critical review of employee–customer proximity in sales and services settings

This paper presents a critical review of published findings pertaining to the physical proximity between employees and customers in various sales and service settings. Following an overview of this stream of research, reflections are then offered on how the concepts of personal space and physical proximity may have changed in terms of their financial and well-being-related effects as a function of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the risk of infection in interpersonal interactions, and despite the affiliative aspects associated with physical proximity, recent recipes for success—as advocated by academics—may eventually have a negative impact on multiple crucial metrics in a post-pandemic world, such that employees’ physical proximity to customers may soon come with a wide array of costly consequences. The article concludes with a set of future research directions.

When life happens: A multidimensional approach to studying the effects of major life events on relationship change

Network theories and life course theories have made significant contributions to the study of relationship change over time. However, much prior work takes a unidimensional approach and conceptualizes "change" in terms of the loss of a tie or the loss of a specific function of a tie. Our paper problematizes "loss" in two ways. First, we conceptualize tie status in terms of active, inactive, and fully dissolved as reported by respondents. Second, we propose a multidimensional approach to studying the relationship change as the result of experiencing major life events. Our main innovation is synthesizing network theories and life course theories to produce a framework for studying relationship change that incorporates types of ties, experiencing major life events, and their interacting effects on specific aspects of the relationship. Based on analyzing a sample of 687 ties collected from 98 respondents, we argue that life events do not have sweeping influence across different types of ties or different aspects of ties. Instead, relationship change in response to life events can occur in changes in the active status of the tie, the interactive aspect of the tie, and the affective aspect of the tie, and which aspects change is dependent on the type of relationship.

Classroom Seat Proximity Predicts Friendship Formation

The present study tests the hypothesis that friendships form on the basis of classroom seating proximity. Participants included 235 students (129 boys, 106 girls) in grades 3–5 (ages 8–11) who nominated friends at two time points (13–14 weeks apart). Teachers described seating arrangements. Concurrent analyses indicated that students sitting next to or nearby one another were more likely to receive friend nominations and be involved in reciprocated friendships than students seated elsewhere in the classroom. Longitudinal analyses indicated that classroom seating proximity was associated with the formation of new friendships. Most results for randomly selected outgoing friend nominations and randomly selected reciprocated friend dyads were replicated in analyses that included all friend nominations and all friend dyads.

The Mitigators of Ad Irritation and Avoidance of YouTube Skippable In-Stream Ads: An Empirical Study in Taiwan

On YouTube, skippable in-stream advertisements (ads) are critical income for both YouTube and content creators. However, ads inevitably irritate viewers, and as a result, they tend to avoid ads. Thus, this study attempts to identify potential mitigators—source attractiveness and reciprocal altruism—of ad irritation and avoidance in the context of YouTube skippable in-stream ads. Using an online survey (n = 512) in Taiwan, the proposed model is examined by a partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis. The findings show that while ad irritation has a positive effect on ad avoidance, reciprocal altruism can significantly reduce both ad irritation and avoidance. However, source attractiveness fails to mitigate ad irritation and avoidance. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed, and several solutions for reducing ad irritation and avoidance are provided.

Proximity can induce diverse friendships: A large randomized classroom experiment

Can outside interventions foster socio-culturally diverse friendships? We executed a large field experiment that randomized the seating charts of 182 3^rd through 8^th grade classrooms (N = 2,966 students) for the duration of one semester. We found that being seated next to each other increased the probability of a mutual friendship from 15% to 22% on average. Furthermore, induced proximity increased the latent propensity toward friendship equally for all students, regardless of students’ dyadic similarity with respect to educational achievement, gender, and ethnicity. However, the probability of a manifest friendship increased more among similar than among dissimilar students—a pattern mainly driven by gender. Our findings demonstrate that a scalable light-touch intervention can affect face-to-face networks and foster diverse friendships in groups that already know each other, but they also highlight that transgressing boundaries, especially those defined by gender, remains an uphill battle.

A Closer Look at First Sight: Social Relations Lens Model Analysis of Personality and Interpersonal Attraction at Zero Acquaintance

Based on a new theoretical framework—the Social Relations Lens Model—this study examined the influence of personality on real–life attraction at zero acquaintance. A group of psychology freshmen ( N = 73) was investigated upon encountering one another for the first time. Personality traits, attraction ratings and metaperceptions were assessed using a large round–robin design (2628 dyads). In line with our model, personality differentially predicted who was a liker and who expected to be liked (perceiver effects), who was popular and who was seen as a liker (target effects), as well as who liked whom and who expected to be liked by whom (relationship effects). Moreover, the influence of personality on attraction was mediated by observable physical, nonverbal and audible cues. Results allowed a closer look at first sight and underline the importance of combining componential and process approaches in understanding the interplay of personality and social phenomena. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Selection and Socialization Influences on Adolescent Alcohol Use: The Individual and Joint Contexts of Neighborhood Disadvantage and Population Density

Background: Neighborhood disadvantage (ND) and population density (PD) are two community characteristics contextualizing friends' influence on adolescent alcohol use. However, these community characteristics are rarely examined for potential joint contributions, although it is possible that the way friends are selected or influence alcohol use are shaped by both ND and PD. In addition, prior studies examining ND or PD contexts on friend influence rarely discern between socialization and selection. Objectives: The current study examined how selection and socialization influences on adolescent alcohol use are shaped by unique and joint contexts of ND and PD. Methods: Adolescents from Waves I and II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent and Adult Health (Add Health) were included in three models assessing friends' socialization of alcohol us initiation and binge drinking, and selection of drinking friends. ND and PD were tested for mediation and moderation individually and jointly. Results: Results indicated that socialization of drinking initiation was stronger in high ND contexts, and that continued binge drinking was stronger in low ND contexts. PD indirectly influenced socialization of initiation and binge drinking maintenance via a negative association with number of drinking friends. PD and ND jointly influenced the association between initial binge drinking and next-year selection of drinking friends, such that selection was stronger within areas related to lower levels of drinking friends. Conclusions/Importance: Current results indicate that PD and ND shape friends' influence on alcohol use in unique ways. These must be accounted for to better understand bidirectional effects of friend influence.

I Have, Therefore I Love: Status Quo Preference in Mate Choice

Decades of research indicate that individuals adhere to existing states (“status quo bias”) and value them more (“endowment effect”). The present work is the first to investigate status quo preference within the context of trade-offs in mate choice. Across seven studies (total N = 1,567), participants indicated whether they would prefer remaining with a current partner possessing a particular set of traits (e.g., high trustworthiness, low attractiveness) or switching to an alternative partner possessing opposite traits. Preference for a given trait was highest when the individual representing the status quo (one’s romantic partner or an interaction partner) possessed that trait. Concerns about hurting the partner, ambiguity avoidance, and biased construal of the partner and the alternative predicted status quo preference and disapproval of the current partner by network members eliminated this effect. These findings indicate that when it comes to matters of the heart, we tend to love what we currently have.

How Do Different Ways of Measuring Individual Differences in Zero-Acquaintance Personality Judgment Accuracy Correlate With Each Other?

OBJECTIVE

This research compares two different approaches that are commonly used to measure accuracy of personality judgment: the trait accuracy approach wherein participants discriminate among targets on a given trait, thus making intertarget comparisons, and the profile accuracy approach wherein participants discriminate between traits for a given target, thus making intratarget comparisons. We examined correlations between these methods as well as correlations among accuracies for judging specific traits.

METHOD

The present article documents relations among these approaches based on meta-analysis of five studies of zero-acquaintance impressions of the Big Five traits.

RESULTS

Trait accuracies correlated only weakly with overall and normative profile accuracy. Substantial convergence between the trait and profile accuracy methods was only found when an aggregate of all five trait accuracies was correlated with distinctive profile accuracy. Importantly, however, correlations between the trait and profile accuracy approaches were reduced to negligibility when statistical overlap was corrected by removing the respective trait from the profile correlations. Moreover, correlations of the separate trait accuracies with each other were very weak.

CONCLUSIONS

Different ways of measuring individual differences in personality judgment accuracy are not conceptually and empirically the same, but rather represent distinct abilities that rely on different judgment processes.

Exposure to Sexual Economics Theory Promotes a Hostile View of Heterosexual Relationships

Proponents of sexual economics theory argue that women exchange sex for men’s resources. This idea is likely to promote a competitive view of gender relationships that undermines gender equality by characterizing women as manipulative and financially dependent on men. Heterosexual college students ( N = 474) who were randomly exposed to a popular YouTube video describing sexual economics theory increased their (1) behavioral support for sexual exchange concepts, (2) endorsement of the theory, and (3) adversarial views of heterosexual relationships, compared with a control group of students. Sexual exchange theory endorsement and adversarial heterosexual beliefs positively covaried, and both attitudes were related to participants’ sexism. Reading a critique of sexual exchange theory, that emphasized mutual respect and affection as precursors to heterosexual intimacy, counteracted the consequences of exposure to the theory. The findings provide evidence that disseminating sexual exchange theory via video on the Internet negatively affects young adults’ views of gender relationships. Educators, and others who wish to explore sexual economics theory through the use of this video, should also include a discussion of the countervailing evidence available. Online slides for instructors who want to use this article for teaching are available on PWQ's website at http://journals.sagepub.com/page/pwq/suppl/index .

Personas in online health communities

Many researchers and practitioners use online health communities (OHCs) to influence health behavior and provide patients with social support. One of the biggest challenges in this approach, however, is the rate of attrition. OHCs face similar problems as other social media platforms where user migration happens unless tailored content and appropriate socialization is supported. To provide tailored support for each OHC user, we developed personas in OHCs illustrating users' needs and requirements in OHC use. To develop OHC personas, we first interviewed 16 OHC users and administrators to qualitatively understand varying user needs in OHC. Based on their responses, we developed an online survey to systematically investigate OHC personas. We received 184 survey responses from OHC users, which informed their values and their OHC use patterns. We performed open coding analysis with the interview data and cluster analysis with the survey data and consolidated the analyses of the two datasets. Four personas emerged-Caretakers, Opportunists, Scientists, and Adventurers. The results inform users' interaction behavior and attitude patterns with OHCs. We discuss implications for how these personas inform OHCs in delivering personalized informational and emotional support.

When Does Familiarity Promote Versus Undermine Interpersonal Attraction? A Proposed Integrative Model From Erstwhile Adversaries

This article began as an adversarial collaboration between two groups of researchers with competing views on a longstanding question: Does familiarity promote or undermine interpersonal attraction? As we explored our respective positions, it became clear that the limitations of our conceptualizations of the familiarity–attraction link, as well as the limitations of prior research, were masking a set of higher order principles capable of integrating these diverse conceptualizations. This realization led us to adopt a broader perspective, which focuses on three distinct relationship stages—awareness, surface contact, and mutuality—and suggests that the influence of familiarity on attraction depends on both the nature and the stage of the relationship between perceivers and targets. This article introduces the framework that emerged from our discussions and suggests directions for research to investigate its validity.

Peer status and classroom seating arrangements: a social relations analysis

The current studies addressed the associations of classroom seating arrangements with peer status using the social relations model. Study 1 examined whether physical distance between classmates was associated with likeability and popularity. Participants were 336 children from 14 fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms (Mage=11.36 years, 47.3% boys). Children who sat closer to the center of the classroom were liked more. Moreover, classmates who sat closer together liked each other more and perceived each other as more popular. Study 2 examined whether children's likeability and popularity judgments were also reflected in the way they positioned themselves relative to their peers when they could arrange their classroom themselves. Participants were 158 children from 6 fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms (Mage=11.64 years, 50.5% boys). Participants placed liked and popular peers closer to themselves than disliked and unpopular peers. If children placed a classmate closer to themselves, they perceived that peer as better liked and more popular and were perceived as better liked and more popular in return. Implications for further research on classroom seating arrangements and peer relationships are discussed.

Perspectives on Power in Organizations

Power is a critical resource for organizational actors. Given the profound importance of power to individual functioning, it is essential to understand how some individuals acquire power when others do not, why some individuals retain their power once they have attained it, and why others fall from their lofty positions in spite of the political advantages power provides. In this review, we conceptualize power as a process that unfolds over time and review research that speaks to three distinct but related dynamics: the acquisition, maintenance, and loss of power. We address and attempt to reconcile a burgeoning set of findings that appear to conflict with each other, especially findings vis-à-vis the maintenance and loss of power. We conclude by addressing overlooked topics and areas for future research.

Implicit Interpersonal Attraction in Small Groups

The present research investigated the nature and behavioral consequences of interpersonal attraction in small groups. In line with dual-process models of information processing, we studied the influence of implicit and explicit evaluations of interaction partners on actual friendly behavior in two social contexts. In two studies, 247 unacquainted same-sex participants ( N1 = 139; N2 = 108)—assigned to groups of four to six members—rated each other by completing a variant of the affective priming task to assess implicit interpersonal attraction and a self-report to measure explicit interpersonal attraction. Social relations analyses indicated that implicit and explicit interpersonal attraction were (a) primarily present on the relationship level, (b) reliably assessed, (c) independent of each other, and (d) predicted behavior in subsequent interactions. Importantly, implicit interpersonal attraction predicted both actual behavior in an online game and friendly behavior in a group discussion task above and beyond explicit interpersonal attraction.

Psychologie der Verwandtschaft

Verwandtschaftsbeziehungen stellen neben Partner- und Kooperationsbeziehungen einen zentralen Kontext der individuellen und sozialen Entwicklung dar und sind in der Psychologie bislang nicht ausreichend gewürdigt worden. In Soziobiologie und Evolutionspsychologie wird Verwandtschaft primär unter dem Aspekt der inklusiven Fitness betrachtet und in Bezug auf das Altruismusproblem erörtert. Basierend auf deren Annahmen wird in diesem Beitrag Verwandtschaft als eine psychologische Kategorie verstanden, die durch den proximaten Mechanismus der Regulation emotionaler Nähe und den Verzicht auf die strikte Einhaltung der Reziprozitätsnorm konstruiert wird. Dadurch können auch Nichtverwandte als verwandtschaftsgleich oder wahlverwandt wahrgenommen werden. Es wird ein integratives Modell der psychologischen Verwandtschaft postuliert, das Verwandtschaft nicht nur in Abgrenzung zu anderen Beziehungen definiert, sondern ebenso als Ergebnis eines aktiven Prozess der sozialen Beziehungsgestaltung erklärt.

TripleR: an R package for social relations analyses based on round-robin designs

In this article, we present TripleR, an R package for the calculation of social relations analyses (Kenny, 1994) based on round-robin designs. The scope of existing software solutions is ported to R and enhanced with previously unimplemented methods of significance testing in single groups (Lashley & Bond, 1997) and handling of missing values. The package requires only minimal knowledge of R, and results can be exported for subsequent analyses to other software packages. We demonstrate the use of TripleR with several didactic examples.

Changing peer perceptions and victimization through classroom arrangements: a field experiment

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an experimental manipulation of distance between classmates on peer affiliations and classroom climate. Participants were 651 10-to-12 year-old children (48% boys) from 27 Grade 5 and Grade 6 classrooms of 23 schools, who were assigned to an experimental or a control condition. Peer affiliations were assessed with peer nominations and likeability ratings before and after the manipulation of distance. In the experimental condition, children who did not like each other were placed closer together for several weeks in order to promote more positive peer relations. The decrease in distance lead to higher likeability ratings for children who were perceived most negatively at the beginning of the school year. In addition, a reduction in peer-reported victimization and social withdrawal nominations was found. The results suggest that the classroom seating arrangement can be used as a tool to improve liking among peers and reduce peer-reported problem behaviors in the classroom.

Friends with Benefits: The Evolved Psychology of Same- and Opposite-Sex Friendship

During human evolution, men and women faced distinct adaptive problems, including pregnancy, hunting, childcare, and warfare. Due to these sex-linked adaptive problems, natural selection would have favored psychological mechanisms that oriented men and women toward forming friendships with individuals possessing characteristics valuable for solving these problems. The current study explored sex-differentiated friend preferences and the psychological design features of same- and opposite-sex friendship in two tasks. In Task 1, participants ( N = 121) categorized their same-sex friends (SSFs) and opposite-sex friends (OSFs) according to the functions these friends serve in their lives. In Task 2, participants designed their ideal SSFs and OSFs using limited budgets that forced them to make trade-offs between the characteristics they desire in their friends. In Task 1, men, more than women, reported maintaining SSFs for functions related to athleticism and status enhancement and OSFs for mating opportunities. In Task 2, both sexes prioritized agreeableness and dependability in their ideal SSFs, but men prioritized physical attractiveness in their OSFs, whereas women prioritized economic resources and physical prowess. These findings suggest that friend preferences may have evolved to solve ancestrally sex-linked adaptive problems, and that opposite-sex friendship may directly or indirectly serve mating functions.

Alexithymia tendencies and mere exposure alter social approachability judgments

People have a fundamental motivation for social connection and social engagement, but how do they decide whom to approach in ambiguous social situations? Subjective feelings often influence such decisions, but people vary in awareness of their feelings. We evaluated two opposing hypotheses based on visual familiarity effects and emotional awareness on social approachability judgments. These hypotheses differ in their interpretation of the familiarity or mere exposure effect with either an affective or cognitive interpretation. The responses of our 128-student sample supported the cognitive interpretation. Lower emotional awareness or higher alexithymia was associated with higher approachability judgments to familiarized faces and lower approachability judgments to novel faces. These findings were independent of the Big Five personality factors. The results indicate that individual differences in emotional awareness should be integrated into social decision-making models. The results also suggest that cognitive-perceptual alterations may underlie the poorer social outcomes associated with alexithymia.

PERSOC: A Unified Framework for Understanding the Dynamic Interplay of Personality and Social Relationships

The interplay of personality and social relationships is as fascinating as it is complex and it pertains to a wide array of largely separate research domains. Here, we present an integrative and unified framework for analysing the complex dynamics of personality and social relationships (PERSOC). Basic principles and general processes on the individual and dyadic level are outlined to show how personality and social relationships influence each other and develop over time. PERSOC stresses the importance of social behaviours and interpersonal perceptions as mediating processes organized in social interaction units. The framework can be applied to diverse social relationships such as first encounters, short–term acquaintances, friendships, relationships between working group members, educational or therapeutic settings, romantic relationships and family relationships. It has important consequences for how we conceptualize, understand, and investigate personality and social relationships. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.