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American Psychological Association, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 6(96), p. 1152-1165

DOI: 10.1037/a0014468

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In the Eye of the Beholder: Perceived, Actual, and Peer-Rated Similarity in Personality, Communication, and Friendship Intensity During the Acquaintanceship Process

Journal article published in 2009 by Maarten Selfhout, Jaap Denissen ORCID, Susan Branje ORCID, Wim Meeus
This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Abstract

The authors examined associations of perceived similarity, actual similarity, and peer-rated similarity in personality with friendship intensity during the acquaintanceship process in a naturalistic setting. Self- and peer-rated personality data were gathered from undergraduates (mean age = 18.9) at 5 time points during the first year of university using a round-robin design. Whereas perceived similarity and peer-rated similarity in personality were concurrently associated with more friendship intensity for just-acquainted individuals, actual similarity in personality was not. Further, bidirectional cross-lagged associations between perceived similarity and friendship intensity were found. Peer-rated similarity was also associated with increases in friendship intensity, and this association was mediated by communication frequency. These results indicate that specific types of similarity in personality are differentially associated with friendship intensity during early phases of acquaintanceship in a real-life setting. Further, insight was provided in the direction of causality between similarity and attraction: Perceived and peer-rated similarity seem to breed friendship intensity, whereas friendship intensity seems to breed perceived similarity only. Finally, peers' expectations seem to affect individuals' communicative behaviors, which in turn affect friendship formation.