Threats to personal control fuel similarity attraction

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ma, Anyi; Paek, Jessica J. W.; Liu, Fangzhou; Kim, Jae Yun
• 署名单位: University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison; Indiana University System; IU Kelley School of Business; Indiana University Bloomington; Huazhong University of Science & Technology; University of Manitoba
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-12772
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2321189121
• 发表日期: 2024-10-22
• 关键词: compensatory control; diversity; helplessness; increases; insights; ANXIETY; models; locus; need; help

摘要

We propose that experiencing a lack of personal control will increase people's preferences for self- similar others and that this effect would be explained by a greater need for structure. Our hypotheses received support across 11 longitudinal, experimental, and archival studies composed of data from 60 countries (5 preregistered studies, N = 90,216). In an analysis of cross- country archival data, we found that respondents who indicated a lower sense of personal control were less likely to prefer to live with neighbors who had a different religion, race, or spoke a different language (Study 1). Study 2 found that participants who perceived lower (vs. higher) personal control indicated greater liking for coworkers who they perceived to be more self- similar across a wide range of characteristics (e.g., gender, personality). Studies 3a and 3b, two live- interaction experiments conducted in the United States and China, provided additional causal evidence for control- motivated similarity attraction. A causal experimental chain (Studies 4a to 4c) and a manipulation- of- mediation- as- a- moderator study (Study 5) provided evidence for the mediating effects of the need for structure. Study 6, a longitudinal study with Chinese employees, found that workers who reported perceiving a lower (vs. higher) sense of personal control preferred more self- similar coworkers, and this effect was mediated by a greater desire for structure. Finally, exploring downstream consequences, Studies 7a and 7b found that control- motivated similarity attraction was associated with a greater preference for homogenous (vs. diverse) groups. These findings highlight how the fundamental motive for personal control shapes the structure of social life. Significance Recent years have seen an increased prevalence of societal problems that are caused by similarity attraction, such as increased segregation and political polarization, as well as macrolevel events (e.g., the Covid-19 pandemic) that likely reduced people's sense of personal control. The present research examines whether these two seemingly unrelated societal events might be connected. Across 11 studies with diverse samples from 60 countries and employing multiple methods (i.e., experimental, correlational, longitudinal, and archival), we found that people who experienced a lower sense of personal control were more likely to prefer to affiliate with self-similar others as well as homogenous groups, and this preference was explained by a greater desire for order and predictability.