The relative effects of competence and likability on interpersonal attraction

J Soc Psychol. 2008 Apr;148(2):253-5. doi: 10.3200/SOCP.148.2.253-256.

Abstract

Undergraduate students in Singapore (N = 80) learned about the competence (low vs. high) and likability (low vs. high) of a future interaction partner and indicated their attraction toward that stranger. The effect of likability was two times as large as that of competence. Because of the additive effects of the two manipulated factors on attraction, the authors interpreted the preference for lovable fools over competent jerks as an outcome of a generalized supremacy of likability over competence.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Achievement*
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Affect*
  • Character*
  • Choice Behavior
  • Decision Making
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Intelligence
  • Interpersonal Relations*
  • Judgment
  • Male
  • Object Attachment
  • Social Perception
  • Students / psychology