Homophily: why do birds of a feather flock together?

Research shows that people disproportionately initiate and pursue deeper relationships with those who are similar to themselves. This behavior—‘homophily’—has historically been explained by two mechanisms: (1) limited opportunities to interact with diverse others, and (2) straightforward preference to socialize with similar others. However, there may be a novel psychological process that promotes homophilous behavior: people’s tendency to underestimate how much dissimilar others are interested in talking to them, a phenomenon termed dissimilarity pessimism. New research shows that although most people are privately interested in talking to dissimilar others, they simultaneously believe that dissimilar others are uninterested in talking to them.

Dissimilarity pessimism exists across several different types of dissimilarity, including age, race, personality, career stage, professional industry, and cultural background, and it arises in part from the uncertainty involved in perspective-taking for dissimilar others, together with the salient negative thoughts that result (e.g., “I wonder if they will like me”). A large field study of employees run in partnership with Mystery Minds, an organization dedicated to bridging group divides by connecting employees through conversation, revealed that dissimilarity pessimism impedes employees’ ability to learn from people who would provide a different perspective, thus limiting potential for growth and inhibiting important connections across social groups that would strengthen workplace inclusivity, information flow, and innovation.

This work broadens our theoretical understanding of homophily while identifying practical implications for relationship development and networking, suggesting one reason why simply creating a diverse workplace is not sufficient for intergroup interactions to take place. 

Publications

Cooney, G.*, Boothby, E. J.*, & Schweitzer, M. E. (under review). Dissimilarity Pessimism: People Underestimate the Extent to Which Dissimilar Others Are Interested in Talking to Them. Under Review.

(*indicates equal authorship)