Recall that Leon Festinger and his colleagues conducted research at a university housing project called Westgate West. Among other things, they examined friendship formation among apartment residents. Results showed that the residents living near stairwells formed twice as many friendships with upstairs neighbors as those living in the middle apartments, which were further from the stairs. These results illustrate the impact of ________ on friendship formation.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The results from the study suggest that it was the functional distance, or the likelihood of residents to come into contact with each other due to the layout of the building, that impacted friendship formation. The proximity of the stairwells made interaction and contact more likely, which then fostered the formation of more friendships. Physical distance and similarity may also play a role in friendship formation, but in this study, it was functional distance that had the most impact. Sociometric distance refers to the degree of social distance or closeness between individuals, and was not a factor examined in this study.

Recall That Leon Festinger and His Colleagues Conducted Research at a University