Reciprocity of Interpersonal Attraction: A Confirmed Hypothesis

Abstract

An increase in reciprocity of interpersonal attraction during the early acquaintance period followed by continuing social reciprocity are common sense propositions that are central principles of several social psychological theories. However, there is little empirical evidence of increasing reciprocity of interpersonal attraction over time. There are two potential reasons for this failure to find reciprocity over time. First, the reciprocity correlation contains a mixture of two correlations: reciprocity at the individual level and reciprocity at the dyadic level. Second, physical proximity may affect reciprocity, particularly during early acquaintance. The two reciprocity correlations and effects of physical proximity can be estimated from a round robin design. Correlations computed by taking all possible dyads measured at five time points show weak reciprocity effects with a decrease across the five time points. The individual level correlations were small while the dyadic correlations were positive. Partialling out roommate effects from the dyadic correlation enhances increasing reciprocity over time. Thus, reciprocity of attraction does increase over time when one accounts for two different levels of analysis and controls for roommate effects.