ABSTRACT
Studies of heterosexual couples are a relatively new focus in social psychology. Early work on interpersonal attraction (e.g., Festinger, Schachter & Back, 1950; Newcomb, 1961) concerned the development of friendship in naturalistic settings. In the later 1960s, however, research on interpersonal attraction moved into the laboratory; for the next decade, studies of first encounters between strangers were predominant (Byrne & Griffitt, 1973). Social psychologists have only recently turned their attention from first impressions to the development of enduring male-female relationships.
