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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
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The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness: A Procedure and Some Preliminary Findings

Arthur Aron

State University of New York at Stony Brook, aron{at}psychl.psy.sunysb.edu

Edward Melinat

California Graduate School of Family Psychology

Elaine N. Aron

State University of New York at Stony Brook

Robert Darrin Vallone

University of California, Santa Cruz

Renee J. Bator

Arizona State University

A practical methodology is presented for creating closeness in an experimental context. Whether or not an individual is in a relationship, particular pairings of individuals in the relationship, and circumstances of relationship development become manipulated variables. Over a 45-min period subject pairs carry out self-disclosure and relationship-building tasks that gradually escalate in intensity. Study 1 found greater postinteraction closeness with these tasks versus comparable small-talk tasks. Studies 2 and 3 found no significant closeness effects, inspite of adequate power, for (a) whether pairs were matched for nondisagreement on important attitudes, (b) whether pairs were led to expect mutual liking, or (c) whether getting close was made an explicit goal. These studies also illustrated applications for addressing theoretical issues, yielding provocative tentative findings relating to attachment style and introversion/extraversion.

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 23, No. 4, 363-377 (1997)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167297234003
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