Running head: Pre-interaction Similarity and Roommate Relationship

This study combines Byrne’s Attraction Paradigm and Duck’s Filtering Theory to examine how the discovery of similar background or attitudinal information during pre-interaction affected the perceived attraction and friendship development of assigned roommates. Results reveal that students use social networking sites, like Facebook, and other technological media to make attraction judgments about their roommates before they meet. Students who find their roommate to be similar to them in background or attitudinal beliefs are more likely to be attracted to them and form a friendship with them in the future. Results also reveal that attitudinal homophily impacts attraction more than background homophily. Similarity and Roommates 2 The Effect of Similarity Discovered Through Pre-Interaction on the Attraction and Relationship of Assigned Roommates The transition from high school to college is a difficult time in a person’s life. Incoming freshmen are subjected to many psychological and physical changes that must be endured and overcome. Homesickness and depression are just two of many side effects that occur from this transition and the rupture it causes to the student’s “social support group” (Beck, Taylor, & Robbins, 2003). Because of the extent of change one experiences in this transition, it makes sense that one of the most important aspects of campus life to incoming freshmen is that of roommate rapport. When everything else around them is shifting and new schemas are being created, the established roommate relationship can become an anchor to hold them down and help them cope. The bond established between roommates is such an influential relationship that not having a satisfying roommate relationship may lead to loneliness that if it persists, causes many freshmen to drop out of college altogether and return to their old surroundings that they knew and loved (Hawken, Duran, & Kelly, 1991). Duran and Zakahi (1988) go one step further and assert that acquiring roommate satisfaction makes the transition into campus life easier for freshmen and can even positively influence their GPA. Research shows that students who choose their roommates have a greater satisfaction with their living arrangements. However, because not all freshmen arrive at college with a roommate, it is necessary to understand the variables that create attraction between two assigned roommates in an effort to keep freshmen engaged and enrolled in college (Stern, Powers, Dhaene, Dix, & Shegog, 2007). Many studies attribute roommate satisfaction to several aspects of similarity. Martin and Anderson (1995) discovered that roommates who were similar in Similarity and Roommates 3 communication traits such as interpersonal communication competence and willingness to communicate were more likely to be content with their living arrangements. Also, Kurtz and Sherker (2003) discovered that roommate dyads who rated themselves and one another similarly on the trait of conscientiousness shared a positive relationship. Many studies have attempted to define the most important characteristic that affects the attraction of two assigned roommates, but none have analyzed the effect of finding out information about a future roommate before any interaction between the two occurs. The purpose of this study is to apply Byrne’s Similarity-Attraction Paradigm and Duck's Filtering Theory to the roommate relationship. In the information and technological age of today, with the simple click of a mouse, students have the ability to find out a wide range of information about their future roommates simply by knowing their names. This study aims at targeting the effects of the roommate relationship when students find out similar or dissimilar information about one another prior to interaction. Review of Literature Byrne’s Attraction Paradigm One of the best known and debated theories dealing with whether or not attraction is established between two strangers is Byrne’s (1971) Attraction Paradigm. Touhey (1974) deems the attraction paradigm as one of the most founded and continually reproduced breakthroughs in modern social psychology. Byrne’s Attraction Paradigm, conducted under various circumstances and within varied relationships, predicts a relationship between attraction and the proportion of similar attitudes between people. As a result, similarity between two people in attitudes, beliefs, traits, characteristics, or lifestyles is a sound indicator of attraction. As similarity increases, attraction will increase also. The implications of this theory in a roommate relationship are that a Similarity and Roommates 4 student’s discovery of similarity with his/her future, assigned roommate will fuel an attraction to establish a friendship with his/her roommate. Many researchers support Byrne’s paradigm and agree that similarity is the variable that leads to attraction between two people and that dissimilarity has a reverse effect (Smith & Kalin, 2006; Cunningham, 2008). Joiner’s (1994) self-verification theory infers that people choose who they want to be in a relationship with based on how much a person would be able to confirm them. Therefore, when people encounter others that are similar to them, their perception is that the similarity will ultimately lead to confirmation within that created relationship. Along the same lines, Rosenbaum’s (1986) Repulsion Hypothesis would conversely align with Byrne’s paradigm. It states that encounters that incorporate the bringing out of dissimilar attitudes between two people interacting inhibits a relationship from forming and leads to repulsion. Rosenbaum (1986) applied his hypothesis to Festinger’s (1962) Cognitive Dissonance Theory in that similarity is expected and creates consistency within people’s lives, whereas dissimilarity is unexpected and inconsistent and so people must adapt to or reject it. Swann and Pelham (2002) concluded the exact same need for consistency and confirmation within students and argued that students with strong self-views preferred roommates who uphold those same views. Critics of Byrne’s study argue that his method and conclusions may be flawed. One of the most prominent critics of the attraction paradigm is Michael Sunnafrank. Similar to Joiner’s selfverification theory, Sunnafrank’s (1984) “goal-oriented” perspective states that people attempt to obtain common, steadfast, and manageable surroundings, and whether this goal is being achieved will determine what attracts people to certain things. Sunnafrank (1986) considers the progression of a relationship and determines that as a result of the “goal-oriented” perspective, attraction does occur in pre-acquaintance stages because of perceived similarity between two Similarity and Roommates 5 people. However, he argued that after an initial meeting and conversation face-to-face, the perceived similarity discovered beforehand does not hold as much weight in enhancing the dyad’s interpersonal attraction. In the same way, Broome (1983) discovered that when subjects were not allowed to interact with a dissimilar other during a replication of Byrne’s study, that dissimilarity did have a negative effect on attraction. However, when the subject was given the opportunity to carry on a conversation with the dissimilar other, the dissimilarity between the two did not affect attraction because the subjects were able to find out how the dissimilar other evaluated them, their willingness to listen to the subjects’ point of view, and whether the dissimilar others were attempting to push their views onto the subject. In contrast, Levinger (1972) found that a similar individual was notably favored over a dissimilar individual at both points in time with only a minor change between the response to similarity and time. Therefore, this study undergirds Byrne’s Attraction Paradigm in a pre-interaction stage as well as post-interaction. Despite the controversy within similarity attraction research, one statement seems to hold true: attitudinal similarity does have an effect on the attraction of two strangers in the pre-interaction stages of a relationship. Werner and Parmelee (1979) found that the most important similarity that promotes a friendship is shared activities. The findings suggest that of the 24 same-sex pairs studied, dissimilarity of attitudes is as readily seen between friends as between strangers. However, because of the small sample size and the vast amount of research that declares that dissimilarity detracts from the establishment of a friendship, this conclusion is suspect. Despite the limitations, Werner and Parmelee’s (1979) recognition that similarity between the dyad in areas other than attitudes is important and reveals that friendship formation does not only deal with Similarity and Roommates 6 two people holding similar attitudes and values, but also having the same interests and being involved in the same activities. The relationship between similarity and friendship development appears to apply to all stages of life. One of the prominent variables that impacts who a child chooses to befriend is that of behavioral similarity (Rubin, Lynch, Coplan, Rose-Krasnor, & Booth, 1994). Compiling this information with the inconsistencies and unknowns freshmen are combating, an understandable conclusion would be that the last thing a freshman would want is a roommate that brings more inconsistency into that crucial time of his or her life. Duck’s Filtering Theory One of the most widely known studies on pre-interaction and the stages of relationship development is Duck’s Filtering Model. In his book, Duck (1976) explains his projected Filtering Theory in which he claims that an individual evaluates others around him or her by using certain standards. In turn, if those people that the individual evaluates fail to meet his or her established criteria, the individual will “filter” them out and establish friendships with only those who reach their expectations. Duck