The Relations among Talking, Liking, and Similarity between Friends

Abstract

Self-concept similarity in 58 female first-year roommate pairs was examined using the spontaneous trait generation task. On the basis of the trait overlap identified by this task, friends were more similar than nonfriends. Correlational analyses demonstrated that the amount of talking between roommates was more highly related to trait overlap than was liking or reported time spent together, suggesting that conversation between friends may be a key to the development of self-concept similarity. These results were interpreted as support for a model of self-concept change in which exposure to new interpersonal constructs leads to their adoption as self-schemata. Conversation between friends is discussed as one means of exposure to new constructs.