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Attractiveness, cost and dependency in the exchange of unlike behaviors
Author(s) -
Lefebvre Luc M.,
McNeel Steven P.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2420030102
Subject(s) - psychology , attractiveness , social psychology , creativity , altruism (biology) , social exchange theory , dependency (uml) , prosocial behavior , systems engineering , psychoanalysis , engineering
Abstract A research project was conducted to extend social exchange theory to a situation of exchanging unlike behaviors. In the present study, female judges rated the performance of males (accomplices of E) in a creativity task. A 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design manipulated the variables of cost to the judge for inaccurate ratings, attractiveness of the male performer and dependency of the performer's outcomes on the judge's ratings. The basic expectations were generated from social exchange theory and significantly supported. Under low cost, and to a lesser extent also under high cost, higher creativity ratings would be given to highly attractive than to less attractive performers. This result pattern was not affected by the dependency manipulation as could tentatively be expected on the basis of the altruism and ingratiation phenomena. These findings are discussed in relation to those of a previous study using male judges and female performers and differences are interpretated in terms of the appropriateness of the behavior according to sex role prescriptions. The discussion suggests the need for research directed toward determining the conditions which predispose people to choose one social exchange rule over another.