Gain and loss of esteem as determinants of interpersonal attractiveness

Abstract

In a laboratory experiment, coeds interacted in two-person groups over a series of brief meetings. After each meeting the subjects were allowed to eavesdrop on a conversation between the experimenter and her partner in which the latter (actually a confederate) evaluated the subject. There were four major experimental conditions: (1) the evaluations were all highly positive; (2) the evaluations were all quite negative; (3) the first few evaluations were negative but gradually became positive; (4) the first few evaluations were positive but gradually became negative. The major results showed that the subjects liked the confederate best when her evaluations moved from negative to positive and least when her evaluations moved from positive to negative. The results were predicted and discussed in terms of a “gain-loss” notion of interpersonal attractiveness.