The procedure's effectiveness varied based on individual attachment styles ; for example, high ego-identity subjects showed different closeness patterns when told to "protect themselves" compared to low ego-identity subjects.
The core of the study is the Fast Friends procedure , a 45-minute task where pairs of strangers engage in reciprocal, escalating self-disclosure. Personal Numero 36 (1997)
The 1997 study provided several critical insights into human connection: The study sought to determine if interpersonal closeness
In 1997, researchers Arthur Aron, Melinat, Aron, Vallone, and Bator published a seminal paper in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin titled "The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness: A Procedure and Some Preliminary Findings". The study sought to determine if interpersonal closeness could be "generated" in a laboratory setting through a structured series of 36 questions. By engineering a "fast track" to closeness, the
The procedure is grounded in Arthur Aron's research on the "self-expansion model," which suggests that individuals seek to include others in their self-concept to gain resources and perspectives.
Aron’s 1997 "Numero 36" protocol proved that intimacy is not merely a byproduct of time, but a structured outcome of vulnerability and reciprocal self-disclosure. By engineering a "fast track" to closeness, the study redefined how psychologists understand the development of the human social identity. The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness
