Foundations of Interpersonal Attraction

Foundations of Interpersonal Attraction is intended to provide students of interpersonal relationships with a source book that reviews, integrates, and elaborates basic material concerned with interpersonal attraction-the affectional component of social relationships. All interpersonal relationships can be characterized, in part, by the strength and nature of the affectional tie between the persons involved. The ubiquity of attraction phenomena, and the extensive data that have begun to emerge concerning its nature, antecedents, and interpersonal correlates, provided the original rationale and impetus behind the development of the book. The book contains 16 chapters organized into five parts. Part I briefly highlights the history of attraction research and lays out some central themes related to conceptualizing and researching attraction. All persons develop attachments through social interaction, but the nature and antecedents of such feelings differ depending on the age and cognitive-developmental level of the persons involved as well as on the sociocultural context in which the interaction takes place. Part II is devoted to detailing these issues. Parts III and IV consist of a series of contributions that provide conceptual frameworks for studying attraction. Part V is devoted to romantic attraction.