Attitude similarity-Attraction Link: When and How Does Gender Moderate It?

LIN KO-FENG PATRICK

Publication

Attitude similarity-Attraction Link: When and How Does Gender Moderate It?

LIN KO-FENG PATRICK

Abstract

Gender differences in the attitude similarity-attraction link and the affective mediation of those differences were examined. In Experiment 1 (N = 106), men (n = 46) and women (n = 60) examined dissimilar or similar attitudes of a same-gender stranger, and rated their negative affect and interpersonal attraction. As hypothesized, attitudes had a uniform effect on attraction of men and women, and the similarity-attraction link was partially mediated by negative affect. In Experiment 2, (N = 182), men (n = 62) and women (n = 120) expressed positive affect before indicating interpersonal attraction. As hypothesized, positive affect of women for a dissimilar stranger was less than that of men. Such gender difference in positive affect fully mediated the corresponding gender difference in attraction. However, the gender difference and similarity effects in attraction were partly mediated by positive affect. Findings make contributions by specifying how and when gender can moderate the attitude similarity-attraction link.