Research Article
Self-referenced interpersonal similarity phenomena: Theoretical specification and assessment at the individual, dyadic and group levels
Thomas E. Malloy,
Corresponding Author
Thomas E. Malloy
Social Relations Laboratory, Rhode Island College, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Correspondence
Thomas E. Malloy, Department of Psychology, Rhode Island College, Mt. Pleasant Avenue, Providence, RI 02908, USA.
E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorThomas E. Malloy,
Corresponding Author
Thomas E. Malloy
Social Relations Laboratory, Rhode Island College, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Correspondence
Thomas E. Malloy, Department of Psychology, Rhode Island College, Mt. Pleasant Avenue, Providence, RI 02908, USA.
E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorConflict of Interest Statement
The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest.
Ethical Statement
The reported research was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Rhode Island College. All participants provided informed consent.
Transparency Statement
These data are archived on the Social Relations Laboratory Website at http://thomasemalloy.org/archived-published-data/
Abstract
A basic interpersonal task is assessing if another is similar to oneself, and is even observed among prelinguistic infants. In 450 highly acquainted dyads (150 from family, friend, co-worker groups), participants judged others' similarity to themselves, and predicted others' similarity ratings of them. Assumed reciprocity and reciprocity of similarity judgments were observed; the former was much stronger than the latter. Specific others were judged as uniquely similar; in families these judgments were reciprocated. People inaccurately predicted others', and specific others', similarity judgments. Common members of these groups (key person) judged others as similar to themselves, and predicted others' reciprocated similarity judgments, although they did not. Social relations modeling showed that interpersonal similarity assessments in different groups are multiple phenomena at multiple levels of analysis and should not be treated as a single, unitary phenomenon.
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