> Is the idea that friendship might be transactional too scary a thought to consider head on?

Rather than be defensive, it was designed to shock you out of your current thought patterns on friendship, because they are almost delusional. Neither movie idealised friends nor real-life friendships have any of the characteristics you describe, and that is distorting your view of the world.

Pretending real friendship is a Hollywood myth is self-selecting yourself out of one of the most rewarding aspects of life. Don't do it to yourself.

> The study authors gave a survey to 84 college students in the same class,

Come on, time to get offline and go make some friends.