Kelleys (1967) attribution theory suggests that a selective evaluator whose opinion was more positive toward the target than toward comparison others would be liked more than a gain evaluator whose opinion of the target changed from negative to positive. This hypothesis was tested. In addition, the selective evaluator was compared to a nonselective one, and the gain evaluator was compared to a positive one. The selective evaluator and the positive evaluator were liked more than the gain evaluator. These findings were interpreted by comparing these conditions with a maximum attraction situation implied by Kelley's model.
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