Attraction, Love and Relationships
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- Aronson (1976)
-
- it is better to have at least one glaring fault in order to appear at least human
- Averill & Boothroyd (1977)
-
- found the more you believe in such a thing as 'love at first sight', the more likely it is to happen
- Buss (1989)
-
- proposes that men prefer younger women because they are more likely to be fertile
- women look for older, succesful men who can support them and their children
- both prefer attractive partners because this indicates health and conseq
- Byrne (1964)
-
- manipulated seating arrangements in a classroom
- found that those randomly placed in the centre became more popular
- this suggests that proximity is influential
- Cameron et al (1977)
-
- Personal Advertisment research
- found that men tended to sell themselves on status characteristics, whereas women tended to use physical appearance
- Cash and Derlega (1978)
-
- found that matching occurs in same-sex friendships
- Characteristics of a Collectivist Culture
-
- interdependency
- group is the basic unit of concern
- individual happiness is sacrificed for group happiness
- Characteristics of Individualistic Cultures
-
- individual goals and interests are highly regarded
- importance is placed upon individual happiness
- rights and freedoms of the individual are emphasied
- achievement orientated
- Cunningham (1988)
-
- found that men who watched a happy film rather than a sad one later interacted more positively with a female confederate afterwards
- Dunbar and McGuiness
-
- Personal Advertisement research
- found similar outcomes to Dunbar and Waynforth (1995) when analysing 600 ads in London papers
- Dutton and Aron (1974)
-
- love on a suspension bridge
- participants were interviewed about scienic attractions when they visited a park
- interviewer was an attractive female and she approached the men on either a high or low suspension bridge
- Ebbeson et al (1976)
-
- found that the most disliked people lived nearby
- this is because those in close proximity have a greater potential to annoy us (with inconsiderate behaviour - e.g. loud noice etc)
- Evaluation of Dutton and Aron (1974)
-
- who decided the female interviewer was attractive?
- individual differences were not accounted for (fear of heights, sexual orientation)
- Evaluation of Walster et al (1966)
-
- who judged the attractiveness of the participants?
- lacks ecological validity
- told that the woman was their ideal partner, so they may believe that they had something in common - therefore the results may not be due to attraction on
- Evaluation of Wilson (1975)
-
- this has sinister implications for rape
- prosecution may not be possible if it can be argued that the defendent was genetically driven to rape
- Festinger et al (1950)
-
- studied married graduate students who had been randomly assigned to flats in 17 different two-storey buildings
- found that 2/3 of close friends lived in the same bulding and that if this was the case, they were twice as likely to be on the
- Filter Model of Attraction
-
- Kerckhoff and Davis (1962)
- states that we rely on social and personal factors to 'filter' potential friends and romantic partners
- different criteria are used at different times
-
Filter Model
Competence
-
- tend to be attracted to people who appear to be intelligent and competent
- Aronson (1976)
-
Filter Model
Complementarity of Needs
-
- although similarity is initially an important filter, characteristics that complement each other are important
-
Filter Model
Physical Attractiveness
-
- physical attraction gives an increased desire to interact with the attractive person
- Walster et al (1966)
- Walster and Walster (1969)
- Murstein (1972)
- Wheeler
-
Filter Model
Proximity
-
- physical proximity makes it easier to get to know people
- frequently interaction leads to increased non-verbal feedback which reaffirms attraction
- Ebbeson et al (1976)
- Byrne (1964)
- <
-
Filter Model
Similarity
-
- more likely to come into contact with others of the same background, interests etc.
- Newcombe (1961)
- Kerkchoff (1974)
- General Evaluation of the Filter Model
-
- it is difficult to seperate the effects of proximity and similarity (physical proximity may predict attraction only in as much as similar people gather in the same place)
- research does not focus on the influence of family and friends <
- General Evaluation of the Matching Hypothesis
-
- supporting research is artifical (Murstein etc)
- too much emphasis on physical attractiveness
- too much emphasis on romantic relationships and little on friendships
- society has changed since the research began - no lo - Hofstede (1980-94)
-
- analysed data from employees from 50 different countries
- arugued that over half of the differences between cultures was accounted for by four dimensions, the most important being individualism/collectivism
- Kerkchoff (1974)
-
Kerkchoff observed that married couples usually come from the same:
- social
- economic
- religious
- intelligence
- and educational backgrounds
- social
- Kin Selection
-
- states that we are innately programmed to form close family relationships as these help pass on our genes
- the closer the genetic relationship is, the more we will sacrifice in order to protect out family
- survivial of an individual&
-
Matching Hypothesis
Mismatched Relationships
-
- having an attractive parner may boost self-esteem, but may also lead to jealousy
- less attractive partners may feel insecure and jealous of the attention given to attractive partners
- this can place a strain on the relationship and m
- May and Hamilton (1980)
-
- asked female students to look at photos of male strangers
- divided into 3 groups
- Group 1 listened to pleasant music
- Group 2 listened to unpleasant music
- Group 3 did not listen to any music
- It was group 1 that
- Murstein (1972)
-
- used couples who were engaged or going steady
- couples asked to rate their own partners attractiveness on a 5-point scale
- independent judges rated the couples of attractiveness from photographs
- ratings were compared with tho
- Murstein and Christy (1976)
-
- studied married couples
- found that they were more similar than dating couples in terms of physical attractiveness
- supports the matching hypothesis
- very strong evidence as the couples studied were those who were commited and
- Newcombe (1961)
-
- studied first-year male undergraduates who did not know each other
- measured their attitude to various things
- found they were more likely to form relationships with students who shared their attitudes
- Relationships from Individualistic Cultures Tend to Be...
-
- voluntary
- based on love
- temporary - many relationships before commitment
- Relationships in a Collectivist Culture Tend to Be...
-
- involuntary
- permenant
- seen as a union between families
- Schachter and Singer (1962)
-
- found that in certain circumstances emotions are determined by a general arousal state which the individual then interprets by referring to external factors
- Segal (1974)
-
- assigned trainees alphabetically to seats in classrooms and dormitories on the basis of surname
- found that the closer together in the alphabet (and thus the closer they were to each other), the more likely they were to be friends
- Silverman (1971)
-
- conducted a field study in bars and similar public places
- couples were unmarried and between the ages of 18-22
- they were observed and rated by an independent party on a 5-point scale for attractiveness
- couples had similar r
- Sociobiological Theory
-
- states that we are driven by our genes
- attempts to explain human relationships purely in genetic terms
- Wilson (1975)
- Buss (1989)
- Cameron et al (1977)
- Sternberg (2000)
-
- challenges the view that love can be analysed purely in terms of different constituent factors
- suggests love between two people follows a story and these stories need to match
- contrasts Hatfield and Walster's s
- Studies for the Matching Hypothesis
-
- Walster et al (1966)
- Walster and Walster (1969)
- Silverman (1971)
- Murstein (1972)
- Murstein and Christy (1976)
- Cash and Derlega
- Tesser and Paulhus (1976)
-
- found that the more you think about love the more likely you are to fall in love
- The Matching Hypothesis
- The Matching Hypothesis states that people are attracted to others who have similar levels of attractiveness to themselves
- The Three Factors for Romantic Love
-
- Physiological Arousal
- Appropriate Love Object
- Cultural Exposure
- Three Factor Theory of Love
-
- Hatfield and Walster (1981)
- love is a physiological state of arousal that is labelled as love when an appropriate love object is present and cultural cues tell you it is love
- related to the cognitive labelling theo
- Walster and Walster (1969)
-
- supports matching hypothesis
- second computer dance study
- the participants could meet first and state how attractive they wanted their partner to be
- they tended to choose someone of comparable attractiveness to themselves
- Walster et al (1966)
-
- does not support matching hypothesis
- computer dance study
- 752 American Fresher students
- paired randomly but believed they were with their ideal partner (based upon a previous questionnaire)
- unknown to them, they had
- Wheeler and Kim (1997)
-
- found that Korean, American and Canadian students rated physically attractive people as being more sociable, friendly, extroverted, happy and mature
- this is called the Halo Effect
-
Why We Enter Into a Relationship
(Reinforcement-Affect Model)
-
- the presence of some individuals is associated with positive feelings which makes them more attractive
- if we meet someone when we are feeling happy we are more inclined to like them (neutral stimuli + positive event = positive value) <
- Wilson (1975)
-
- argued that human sexual behaviour can be explained through an understanding of survival efficency
- states that it is in the interests of males to impregnante as many women as possible. This ensures the passing on of the genes
- Women
- Yela and Sangrador (2001)
-
- found that despite the matching effect, people tend to have a biased perception of their partner as being slightly more attractive than themselves