Effects of Person-Group and Intragroup Attitude Similarity on Perceived Group Attractiveness and Cohesiveness: II

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Abstract
The generalizability of the Byrne-Nelson attraction function to the evaluation of group attractiveness and group cohesiveness was investigated by varying both the proportion of person-group or intergroup attitude similarity (.25, .50, or .75) and the proportion of within-group or intragroup attitude similarity (.33, .50, or .83) and having the experimental S evaluate the stimulus group for its attractiveness and its probable level of cohesive functioning. The mythical 3-person stimulus group which each S evaluated was presented as being comprised of the likely participants in a discussion group being considered for another psychological experiment. Group attractiveness was measured by scales for liking and desire to work with the group, and group cohesiveness was assessed with scales asking for evaluations of the group's probable level of productivity, efficiency, feelings of belongingness, and morale. Evaluation of group attractiveness is a positive function of person-group attitude similarity or the similarity of the group's members to S ( p < .001), whereas the evaluation of group cohesiveness is a positive function of similarity of intragroup attitude or the similarity of the group's members to one another independent of their similarity to the nonmember-evaluator ( p < .001).

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