| Summary: | One of the most well-researched phenomena for explaining interpersonal attraction is the
similarity-attraction effect. However, virtually all the research in this area has been done
in North America. This led us to hypothesize that there may be cultural differences in the
presence or magnitude of the similarity-attraction effect. Our first experiment was
designed to replicate the classic similarity-attraction paradigm of the bogus stranger and
introduce culture as a variable of interest. We hypothesized that Japanese participants
would not base their likeability of a stranger on the perceived similarity of personality
traits of that person to the self. Confirming our hypothesis, Euro-Canadian participants
demonstrated a strong attraction to strangers they perceive as like themselves on
personality traits while Japanese participants did not demonstrate this preference.
Evidence for self-esteem or self-consistency explaining this difference did not
materialize. In our second study, liking was manipulated and perceived similarity was
measured in personality and additional domains. We hypothesized that Euro-Canadians
would report that the more they like someone, the more similar they would rate
themselves to that person and that Japanese participants would report a more constant
similarity rating regardless of how much they like someone. We predicted this same
pattern across personality, attitude, activity and demographic domains. Across the
domains of personality, activities, and attitudes, Japanese showed a significant similarityattraction
effect, although it was consistently weaker than it was for Euro-Canadians.
This program of study highlights the cultural variability of the similarity-attraction effect.
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