Examined friendship formation as developing a common understanding of social reality. Individuals engaged in weekly discussions completed repertory grids and attraction ratings after the 4th and 18th weeks of acquaintance. Deteriorating partnerships were significantly less similar in their assessment of other group members than were developing…

Two experiments are reported: one in which presentation of external information about a stranger evoked significantly higher attraction ratings than available psychological information; and a second where similarity of Subject and Other on external characteristics had greater effects upon attraction scores than did similarity of psychological…

Males (N=54) and 46 females who scored high or low on a sensation seeking scale were exposed to slides of physically attractive or unattractive person stimuli. High sensation seekers both liked and expected to recognize the physically attractive persons in the future more than the physically unattractive persons. (Author)

Examines the effect on a recipient of another's effort to provide help. Two variables, locus of responsibility for initiating a help attempt and type of outcome resulting from the help attempt, were manipulated in a three x two factorial design. Results indicated that the Requested help condition yielded the strongest obligation to help others.…

The relative power of cooperative and trusting patterns of behavior versus those of exploitation and distrust in affecting the results of group decision-making processes was investigated. The outcome of a study using the Prisoner's Dilemma Game seems to suggest the disproportionate influence of competitive people in these settings. (Author)

It was predicted that the amount of satisfaction following an interpersonal exchange will be higher when the resource given is similar to the one reciprocated and lower when they are dissimilar. Interpersonal exchange situations were experimentally created in which two independent variables were manipulated. (Author)

Independent groups of seven-year-old subjects listened to humor on headphones, either with a nonlistening companion (audience) or with a companion who also listened (coactor). In coaction sessions, children sitting closer engaged in more eye contact, laughter, and smiling. (Author)

Social exchange theory was employed to predict instigative helping behavior as a function of two types of resources available to the recipient for reciprocation (social and non-social). The possibility of influencing reciprocation of both types of resources produced significant increases in subjects' helping. (Author)

Experiments involving "desirability for a date" ratings of black and white stimulus persons who varied in attractiveness indicated white male and female subjects gave appreciable weight to race and attractiveness, but females gave race more weight than attractiveness, while attractiveness was given more weight than race by males. (Author)

Effects of resource capability and interpersonal attraction on coalition behavior were studied. Introductory psychology students role played across three experimental conditions. Subjects were asked to select a coalition partner, predict formation of coalition, estimate winnings distribution. Male and female choices and predictions differed.…