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  • A quality or feature of something or someone that evokes interest, liking, or desire.
  • The action or power of evoking interest, pleasure or liking for someone or something: “the timeless attraction of a good tune”.
  • Motivation
  • Create relationships

 

Factors that Lead to Attraction

  • Proximity
  • Propinquity effect – increased interaction leads to increased probability of friendship
  • Mere exposure effect – increased exposure leads to increased liking
  • Moreland and Beach (1992)
  • Confederates attend 0, 5, 10 or 15 lectures
  • As attendance increased so did likability ratings
  • Similarity
  • Newcomb (1961) – similarity in: background, attitudes and values predicted friendship
  • Why
  • Validates self-worth, characteristics and beliefs
  • Better interpersonal communication
  • Interacts with proximity
  • Choose similar situations
  • Reciprocal Liking
  • Gold et al. 1984
  • Found that men liked woman who nonverbally displayed liking, even when overtly disagreeing
  • Affected by self-esteem
  • Self-fulfilling prophecy
  • Physical Attraction
  • Walster Hatfield et al. 1996
  • Randomly matched students- blind date
  • Physical attraction best predictor of second date
  • Important to both men and women
  • Men rate it more important

 Smaller difference in actual behavior

Physical Attraction

  • Physical attractiveness stereotype
  • Also known as the Halo-effect
  • Tendency to believe that physically attractive people possess other good qualities
  • Self-fulfilling prophecy
  • Snyder, Tanke, and Berscheid (1977)
  • Recorded phone conversations between men and women* Warmth, friendliness, etc increased when men thought the woman was attractive
  • This influenced the women to be more confident, animated and warm

Physical Attraction

  • Judging Beauty
  • Symmetry
  • Perfect Average
  • http://www.faceresearch.org/demos/average
  • Similar across cultures * The golden ratio

Physical Attraction

  • Importance of Beauty
  • Evolution and Biology
  • Assumes that beauty gives important biological information
  • e. Health, Fertility
  • Makeup

Summarizing: Factors of Attraction

  • Four factors that Lead to Attraction
  • Proximity * Similarity * Reciprocal Liking
  • Physical Attraction – Beauty
  • Determined by
  • Symmetry
  • Averaging of features
  • The golden Ratio * Importance
  • Evolutionarily- gives info about fertility and heath

Theories of Attraction

  • Social Exchange Theory
  • Equity Theory

Theories of Attraction

  • Social Exchange Theory
  • Feelings about a relationship determined by
  • Rewards – costs
  • Outcome
  • Expectations [comparison level]
  • Satisfaction
  • Chances for a better alternative relationship [Comparison level for alternatives]
  • Likelihood of staying
  • Equity Theory
  • Good relationship occurs when
  • Person A’s reward – costs = Person’s B rewards – cost

Love

  • Robert Sternberg (1986) – Triangular Theory of Love * Three Components of Love
  • Intimacy
  • Passion
  • Commitment
  • Three components creates seven types of love relationships Robert Sternberg (1986) Triangular Theory of Love

Love and Relationships

  • Attachment Styles (Ainsworth)
  • Relationships are dependent on individual’s relationships to primary caregiver
  • Three attachment types * Secure
  • Best potential relationships
  • Avoidant
  • Suppress relationship needs, trouble developing intimate relationships* Anxious/Ambivalent
  • Concern that the partner will not reciprocate the desire for intimacy
  • Collins and Feeney (2004)

Love and Relationships

  • Attachment Style Combinations (Kirkpatrick and Davis (1994)
  • Avoidant + Anxious
  • Low in satisfaction, communication problems
  • Depends on gender

Enabling Close Relationships

  • Self-Disclosure
  • Revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others
  • Disclosure reciprocity
  • Reciprocating same level of disclosure as your partner

Summarizing

  • Two Theories of Attraction
  • Social Exchange Theory
  • Cost benefit Analysis
  • Equity Theory
  • Equal cost –benefit for each partner
  • Love and Relationships
  • Sternberg’s Triangular theory of Love
  • 3 components, create 7 types
  • Ainsworth’s Attachment styles
  • Childhood attachment style affects attachment to romantic partner

Ending Relationships

  • Breaking up – Four stages (Duck, 1982)
  • Intrapersonal
  • Focusing on dissatisfaction
  • Dyadic
  • Revealing these to the partner* Social
  • Announcing the breakup to others
  • Intrapersonal (part 2)
  • Devising accounts of the breakup as we recover from it

Ending Relationships

  • Alternatives to exiting a relationship
  • Loyalty
  • Waiting for conditions to improve
  • Neglect
  • Ignore the partner and allow the relationship to deteriorate
  • Voice concerns

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