Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion · chapter 5 · id influence-c5-02-similarity-increases-liking-an
“Similarity increases liking and compliance -- people are more persuaded by those who are similar to them in background, interests, or characteristics.”
TRUE, BUTconfidence: high⚠ extracted by pipeline, re-audit pending
Receipts
Byrne (1971), The Attraction Paradigm, Academic PressDOI registry: valid
The law of attraction: people like others who share their attitudes. The relationship between attitude similarity and attraction was linear across hundreds of studies.
Montoya, Horton & Kirchner (2008), Is Actual Similarity Necessary?, JPSP 94(6)FLAGGED: DOI not in registry
Meta-analysis found that PERCEIVED similarity (r=0.39) predicted attraction much more strongly than ACTUAL similarity (r=0.10). Real-world similarity effects are far weaker than lab effects.
This claim is a stable, citable object. If you can falsify a verdict, tell us. Corrections are loud here.