Adolescent Friendship

Paper Summary:

This study examines the circumstances in which attraction and friendship do and do not occur. It looks into how the various aspects similarity theories (similarity-dissimilarity effect, assumed similarity, and attitude similarity) affect teens' liking of one another. The paper also studies to what degree teens evaluate themselves as liking others after spending a brief amount of time engaging in a specific activity with them. After watching adolescents participate in a number of different activities together, the paper concludes that while participating in a specific activity together increases adolescent bonding when compared to doing nothing in particular (the control group), playing music does not promote adolescent bonding any more than does basketball or video games. The paper also concludes that teens form relationships best when doing what they enjoy, as this puts them in a positive affective state in which they are more open-minded to meeting others.

From the Paper:

"Another factor that would cause a teen to have a more positive evaluation of another after spending even a brief amount of time interacting is the mere exposure effect, which "emphasizes the fact that exposure to a stimulus is all that is necessary to enhance the positive evaluation of that stimulus" (Baron et al, 2005, p. 568). In this case, the fact that the teens have seen each other before, rather than never having met them before, will cause them to have a more positive affect toward each other. In the case of teens coming together on repeated occasion, such as when in a school band together, this effect will become even stronger."

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