Severity of initiation revisited: Does severity of initiation increase attractiveness in real groups?
Lodewijkx first author. Two longitudinal field studies in the Netherlands, with 202 and 46 participants, tested whether a severe initiation makes a real group more attractive. Path analyses supported only the competing affiliation-attraction account, that companionship predicts attractiveness irrespective of severity. Severity early in the initiation went with frustration and loneliness, or depressed mood, and those feelings lowered liking for the group rather than raising it.
Lodewijkx first author. Two longitudinal field studies in the Netherlands, with 202 and 46 participants, tested whether a severe initiation makes a real group more attractive. Path analyses supported only the competing affiliation-attraction account, that companionship predicts attractiveness irrespective of severity. Severity early in the initiation went with frustration and loneliness, or depressed mood, and those feelings lowered liking for the group rather than raising it.
Written from the abstract read 2026-10-18.
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Lodewijkx, H. F. M., & Syroit, J. E. M. M. (1997). Severity of initiation revisited: Does severity of initiation increase attractiveness in real groups? European Journal of Social Psychology, 27(3), 275-300. doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-0992(199705)27:3<275::aid-ejsp822>3.0.co;2-s.