Three experiments explored the similarity-attraction effect (SAE) among North American and Japanese samples.
In all studies, North Americans showed a significantly more pronounced SAE than the Japanese. The North
Americans consistently revealed a strong SAE whereas the Japanese effect was only significant in the methods
with the most power. The cultural differences emerged across different methods, and for the domains of
personality, activities, attitudes and demographics. The cultural difference was mediated by self-esteem, indicating
that a motivation for positive self-views is a mechanism underlying the SAE.