Reactions to Individuals Who Are Consistently Positive or Negative: The Impact of Differing Interaction Goals

Abstract

This experiment exposed subjects to one of two interaction goals, and examined their attraction to interaction partners who differed in valence and variability. Specifically, subjects evaluated the desirability of potential interaction partners who were positive vs. negative in their evaluations of people and objects, and who exhibited high versus low variability in their evaluations. In addition, the subject's interaction goal was manipulated: Half of the subjects were led to desire self-enhancement, or to receive information increasing their self-regard; the other half were led to desire cognitive clarity, or to receive information that would increase their accurate understanding of everyday experiences. Consistent with predictions, subjects were more attracted to interaction partners who were positive than to interaction partners who were negative, and subjects were more attracted to interaction partners who were highly variable than to interaction partners who were low in variability. Also consistent with predictions, degree of attraction was influenced by the nature of the subject's interpersonal goal: When desire for self-enhancement-or the need to feel better about oneself-was made salient, subjects focused more strongly on the interaction partner's level of positivity. Conversely, when desire for cognitive clarity -or the need to obtain clarifying information about oneself and the environment -was made salient, subjects focused more strongly on degree of variability in the interaction partner's evaluations. The implications of these findings for interpersonal attraction research are discussed.