The friend number paradox

Bibliographic Data

ID6207293
AuthorsKao Si (0000-0001-8251-3771), Xianchi Dai (0000-0001-9758-4679), Robert S Wyer (0000-0002-3776-5678)
Year2021
Volume120
Issue1
Pages84-98
Publication date2021-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/pspi0000244
PMID32352810
OpenAlexW2788504307
LanguageEN
Citations received5

that is, a mismatch between people's preferences for the friends they might acquire in social interactions and their predictions of others' preferences. People predict that others are attracted to them if they have a relatively large number of friends. However, they personally prefer to make friends with someone who has a relatively small number of friends. People regard a large number of friends as a signal of social capital that increases their interpersonal attractiveness. However, it can actually be a signal of social liabilities that diminish their ability to reciprocate obligations to others. We conducted a series of studies, including 3 speed-friending studies in which participants either engaged or expected to engage in actual interactions for the purpose of initiating long-term friendships. These studies provide converging evidence of the hypothesized mismatch and our conceptualization of its determinants. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Attractiveness · Conceptualization · Friendship · Homophily · Interpersonal communication · Interpersonal relationship · Political science · PsycINFO · Social capital · Sociology · Complex Network Analysis Techniques · Computer Science · Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence · Psychology · Social Psychology

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