Sweet Talk: The Importance of Perceived Communication for Romantic and Friendship Attraction Experienced During a Get-Acquainted Date

The acquaintance process has long been of interest to social psychologists, but previous research has rarely considered communication as a consolidator of initial attraction. In this study, pairs of previously unacquainted men and women were matched and sent on a get-acquainted date. The researchers examined how the perceived quality of the communication during the interaction affected the dating and friendship attraction the partners had for each other, their desire to see each other again, and the actual continuation of the relationship. The importance of two frequently studied social psychological variables was also considered; partner's physical attractiveness and similarity (both as perceived by the subjects). Most subjects judged the communication to be high in quality and experienced at least some attraction for their partner (and more friendship than romantic attraction), but very few couples went on to have a second date. Quality of communication was found to be related to attraction and the desire to see the other again. Its importance, however, was greater for women than for men and greater for friendship attraction than for romantic attraction.