Affiliation during naturalistic severe and mild initiations: Some further evidence against the severity-attraction hypothesis.

Abstract: 

Dutch students who want to join a student organization have to go through lengthy and demanding initiations, lasting three to four weeks, in order to become fully accepted members. The present study compares the longitudinal data collected among the initiated newcomers of two such organizations; one organization imposing a severe initiation, the other a more mild one. These different initiation practices constitute naturalistic severe and mild initiation conditions, enabling us to examine the validity of two hypotheses proposed to account for the expected increase in group attractiveness after newcomers have endured a severe initiation. (1) Aronson and Mills’ (1959) severity-attraction hypothesis (SAH), that builds upon cognitive dissonance theory. (2) A severity-affiliation-attraction hypothesis (SAAH), which assumes that the proposed increase in group attractiveness is due to affiliation-related processes under the threatening circumstances of an initiation (Schachter, 1959). Results revealed no support for the SAH or the SAAH. Findings suggest the existence of a mere initiation-affiliation-attraction relationship: Irrespective of their severity, initiations seem to induce a common fate, increasing newcomers’ attraction to the group through the process of short-term, affiliate exchanges.