Newcomb, T. M. (1961). The contribution of personal characteristics to attraction. In T. M. Newcomb, The acquaintance process (pp. 221-227). New York, NY, US: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/13156-012
We have shown in various ways that interpersonal attraction varies with perceived similarity of orientations, according to the hypothesized dynamics of individual systems, at all stages of acquaintance. On late but not on early acquaintance, it tends to vary with actual similarity of orientations, so that collective systems become balanced. This state of affairs--whereby individual balance is maintained while collective systems change from imbalance to balance--necessarily requires a good many changes in attraction, and we shall show that such changes are in fact considerable. In treating attraction as a system component, we have of course considered it as neither an independent nor a dependent variable, in any inherent sense. From other points of view, however, either attraction or agreement may be considered to be dependent. In particular, it seems likely that orientations toward persons will vary, dependently, with the characteristics that the recipients of attraction present to be observed by others. Thus, in general terms, questions arise about the attainment and maintenance of balanced states within systems of orientation, while at the same time some of those orientations (attractions) are presumably influenced by individuals' characteristics, which are extra-system, in nature. Personal characteristics, however, are apt to be differentially observed by others, and they are notoriously susceptible to differential evaluation. We shall assume both that attraction may be influenced by the perceived characteristics of others and that the latter may be influenced by existing attraction. In this chapter, therefore, we shall test the general hypothesis that, while attraction toward others is presumably influenced by their observable characteristics, nevertheless the perception of such characteristics changes in such manner as to remain closely associated with attraction--which, as we have shown, changes in balance-maintaining manner. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)