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Personality, arousal, and pleasure: A test of competing models of interpersonal attraction

Publication ,  Journal Article
Krueger, RF; Caspi, A
Published in: Personality and Individual Differences
January 1, 1993

What do people find attractive in others? This study tests four hypotheses about interpersonal attraction: the similarity, repulsion, optimal dissimilarity, and ideal partner hypotheses. To test these hypotheses, we manipulated the degree of correspondence between the temperaments of female subjects and five prospective dating partners. Each subject completed a temperament questionnaire and was then presented with computer-generated stimulus profiles of men that were correlated +1.0, +0.5, 0.0, -0.5, and -1.0 with her own profile. The subject then rated the "dating partners" in terms of pleasure and arousal. Support was found for the similarity, repulsion, and ideal partner hypotheses. Similar partners were most pleasurable and arousing; dissimilar partners were repulsive. In addition, independent of similarity, subjects were driven to seek a male with certain specific characteristics: sociability, a higher activity level, and a lower level of emotionality. This pattern suggests that individual differences interact with nomothetic laws in interpersonal attraction, and that both domains must be considered in a complete formulation of the attraction phenomenon. © 1992.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Personality and Individual Differences

DOI

ISSN

0191-8869

Publication Date

January 1, 1993

Volume

14

Issue

1

Start / End Page

105 / 111

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Psychology
  • 5205 Social and personality psychology
  • 5202 Biological psychology
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology
 

Citation

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Krueger, R. F., & Caspi, A. (1993). Personality, arousal, and pleasure: A test of competing models of interpersonal attraction. Personality and Individual Differences, 14(1), 105–111. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(93)90179-7
Krueger, R. F., and A. Caspi. “Personality, arousal, and pleasure: A test of competing models of interpersonal attraction.” Personality and Individual Differences 14, no. 1 (January 1, 1993): 105–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(93)90179-7.
Krueger RF, Caspi A. Personality, arousal, and pleasure: A test of competing models of interpersonal attraction. Personality and Individual Differences. 1993 Jan 1;14(1):105–11.
Krueger, R. F., and A. Caspi. “Personality, arousal, and pleasure: A test of competing models of interpersonal attraction.” Personality and Individual Differences, vol. 14, no. 1, Jan. 1993, pp. 105–11. Scopus, doi:10.1016/0191-8869(93)90179-7.
Krueger RF, Caspi A. Personality, arousal, and pleasure: A test of competing models of interpersonal attraction. Personality and Individual Differences. 1993 Jan 1;14(1):105–111.
Journal cover image

Published In

Personality and Individual Differences

DOI

ISSN

0191-8869

Publication Date

January 1, 1993

Volume

14

Issue

1

Start / End Page

105 / 111

Related Subject Headings

  • Social Psychology
  • 5205 Social and personality psychology
  • 5202 Biological psychology
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology