Why goal pursuers prefer to seek support from close friends: The roles of concerns for accessibility

Abstract

When selecting among potential supporters, goal pursuers prefer close over distant friends. Using the transactive goal dynamics perspective, we proposed that such preference is partially motivated by concerns for accessibility. Indeed, one correlational study (Study 1) showed that goal pursuers selected close friends partly because they were more accessible. Three additional experiments asked participants to seek support by calling either a close or a distant friend. In this setup, the close friend’s support was either as helpful as (Study 2) or less helpful than the distant friend’s (Studies 3a and 3b). In these situations, we still observed a general preference for close friends, but this preference was reduced (a) when the difficulty of reaching the close friend was elevated (Study 2) and (b) when they could resort to the nonchosen friend if necessary (Studies 3a and 3b). How concerns for accessibility influence the use of social networks will be discussed..