Not all overlaps are equal: Social affiliation and rare overlaps of preferences

Natalia Vélez, Sophie Bridgers, Hyowon Gweon

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Shared preferences are a critical component of social attraction. Knowing that someone likes the same things as you do is indicative of broader underlying similarities that support successful social partnerships. However, not all overlaps in preferences are equally informative. Here we propose that the rarity of overlaps in preferences may be a particularly salient cue for social affiliation. We find evidence that people are sensitive to the rarity of overlaps in preferences and affiliate themselves (Experiment 1) or predict others' affiliations (Experiment 2) with potential social partners who share a relatively rare preference. Because preferences provide information about both what people know and what they like, we also tested the effect of overlaps in knowledge (without taste) and overlaps in taste (without knowledge) to understand why we are drawn to people who share our preferences.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 38th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2016
EditorsAnna Papafragou, Daniel Grodner, Daniel Mirman, John C. Trueswell
PublisherThe Cognitive Science Society
Pages1985-1990
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9780991196739
StatePublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes
Event38th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Recognizing and Representing Events, CogSci 2016 - Philadelphia, United States
Duration: Aug 10 2016Aug 13 2016

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 38th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2016

Conference

Conference38th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Recognizing and Representing Events, CogSci 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityPhiladelphia
Period8/10/168/13/16

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Cognitive Neuroscience

Keywords

  • preferences
  • probabilistic reasoning, social affiliation
  • social categories

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Not all overlaps are equal: Social affiliation and rare overlaps of preferences'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this