ABSTRACT
Group cohesion is an important source of social support as well as of normative control. This chapter is concerned with two related elements of social support—social approval and intrinsic attraction. It examines the conditions that determine expressions of approval and attraction in interpersonal relations, as the processes in which these two components of social support manifest themselves. Furnishing support and supplying assistance are somewhat incompatible, as are winning affection and earning respect, not only in a single encounter but still more so in the total pattern of associations between individuals. Social approval and personal attraction are basic sources of support for an individual's opinions and judgments, for his values and selfconception. The baseline of prestige that makes others appreciate an individual's approval and the baseline of attraction that makes others appreciate an individual's affection rest on different foundations, since prestige is typically more firmly rooted in the social structure than is attraction.
