Discussion

We found that Greeks who were not in a relationship only significantly liked people more when they had high number of friends (7+) compared to a low number of friends (0-4) and this was consistent with what we hypothesized. Interestingly we found that independents that were not in a relationship liked people the same regardless of the amount of friends they have. Further, Greeks who were in a relationship liked people more when they had a high number of friends (7+) compared to a moderate number of friends (5-6) and independents in a relationship liked people more when they had a high number of friends (7+) compared to low (0-4) and moderate (5-6). These results contribute a significant amount to the study of number of close friends and its relationship to liking people because not much has been done to study the relationship between these variables.

We found that Greeks overall had significantly higher interpersonal trust scores. This is interesting because this could shed light on the aspect of those who are in a fraternity or sorority may feel a special bond with a large amount of people where they are more trusting of individuals as a whole. Additionally, consistent with Sylvia Durhem’s finding that there was no relationship between number of romantic relationships and trust, we found that there was no relationship between number of close friends and trust and relationship status and trust.

Those who were in a relationship had significantly higher social intimacy than those not in a relationship which does not come as a surprise. Though, I did ponder the idea that number of close friends would affect how socially intimate someone is, but in our study we found no such affect. Finally, those who were in a relationship had significantly higher emotional reliance, which seems to adhere to logical reasoning.

In the grand scheme of psychological science I believe my findings demonstrate a relatively new area of research in examining friendships and the impact they have on social behaviors, especially in college students. For future research, it would be beneficial to look at gender differences in relationships to all my independent and dependent variables because Greek affiliation directly involves gender. This study will also help college campuses understand the role the Greek system plays in social relationships as well as identifying certain areas that a student can work on to help maximize his/her college career.

Index Introduction Method Results Discussion Figures Table References