Reciprocity Liking
• a psychological term to describe the phenomenon of people tending to better like
those people who like them
• reflects the notion that people feel better about themselves knowing that they are
likable and enjoy the company of those who give them positive feelings
• critical in the formation of friendships and interpersonal attraction
• human nature to be like by others: “We like to be liked”
• it can be so powerful that sometimes it can even make up for a lack of similarity
◦
ex. (study): male participants expressed increased interest in a female
confederate that disagreed with them on important issues, simply
because she made eye contact, leaned in, and listened attentively —>
appeared that the female confederate was interested in the male, the
male was interested in return
Dittes and Kelley, 1956
Aim:
• to investigate the formation of attraction through reciprocity
Method:
• provided anonymous feedback to participants in a group discussion about the
attitudes of the other participants towards them
Results:
• participants tended to report more attraction to group members when they
believe those members liked them
Conclusion:
• Demonstrated the role of reciprocity in attraction by showing higher levels of
attraction to those that had "shown an interest"
Evaluation:
• Side effects can pertain to a too narrow focused on nomothetic approach rather
than idiographic approach. This reciprocity website may not work for
everyone in that people have individual differences and preferences, such as
cultural differences of a specific native quality that one seeks in others that
they have (for example back in the days, Chinese men prefers women with
small feet and would look for that quality, thus reciprocity may not work on
them) and special gender differences like homosexuals, etc. (ex. Culture,
gender)
• focus nurture, did not take the kin selection theory into consideration (nature)
◦ the reciprocity theory focuses too much to the nurture aspect of
attraction. Kin selection theory suggest that people’s take actions to
benefit their gene