


There are several reasons why people prefer the company of others who espouse attitudes, especially important attitudes, which are similar to their own (Berscheid and Walster 1969 Byrne 1971). Additionally people who share similar important attitudes (e.g., attitudes concerning home and family) are more likely to be attracted to each other than those who share less important attitudes (e.g., attitudes toward certain fabric softeners). Walster (1969) and Donn Byrne (1971) in general people are most attracted to others who share similar attitudes. According to studies by Ellen Berscheid and Elaine H. The theory provides a parsimonious explanatory and predictive framework for examining how and why people are attracted to and influenced by others in their social worlds.Ī large body of research investigates the role that similarity of attitudes plays in attraction.

Researchers from a variety of fields such as marketing, political science, social psychology, and sociology have contributed to and gleaned information from empirical tests of similarity/attraction theory. ” Social scientific research has provided considerable support for tenets of the theory since the mid-1900s. Similarity/attraction theory posits that people like and are attracted to others who are similar, rather than dissimilar, to themselves “birds of a feather, ” the adage goes, “flock together.
