Similarity Plus Dissimilarity of Personality: Basis for Friendship?

There have been many studies of process of forming friendships. Many of early researches were stimulated by formulation offered by psychoanalytic theory, i.e., the strong narcissistic tendency . . . leads individual to love in another person that which he sees in himself. That which is most like one's self is loved (Reader 8: English, 1947, p. 216). This statement reformulated for specific researches has generally been stated as, Individuals will see themselves as being more similar, personality-wise, to their friends than to non-friends. The general method used to test this hypothesis has been to compare an individual's test responses with his friend's and non-friend's test responses. For example, Reader and English (1947) administered five personality tests to 32 pairs of friends and non-friends and correlated responses. They found a significantly higher correlation between friends' responses than between non-friends' responses. As these studies accumulated, however, it soon became apparent that original formulation of narcissistic involvement was not adequate to account for all findings. Many studies reported that friends often perceive each other as having opposite characteristics to those which they themselves possess. In Reader and English study (1947) mentioned above, it was found that even most superior Ss spoke of characteristics in friend which they envied or admired and felt that they themselves lacked. Richardson (1939), in a review of studies on formacion of friendships, found that both similarity and dissimilarity are important as sources of attraction. In Richardson review similarity in intelligence was found to be most consistent factor associated with attraction, while similarity in temperament was less consistently associated with attraction. Bonney ( 1952) supported this view. In a recent article, Hoffman (1958) presented further data to substantiate conclusion that similarity of personality is not a sufficient condition for interpersonal attraction. The findings of these latter studies raised dual question of role of similariry and dissimilarity of characteristics in formation of friendships and manner in which these factors operate. The formulation of narcissistic involvement partially accounts for selection of persons with similar characteristics as friends. However, friend must provide some satisfaction