Study Guide 1 Attraction Part I Be able to define the need to belong o We want to form relationships with others o Fundamentally in our core, we want to experience the feeling of belonging o If someone doesn’t feel that way, we say they have a disordered behavior o Highly motivated to form social relationships and avoid social rejection Be able to define attraction o Anything that draws two people together, makes them want to be together, and form a lasting relationship o Not universal in a sense that we don’t feel it towards everyone o We’re selective in deciding who we want to form relationships with o Attraction is a force that draws people together to form social relationship (platonic, or not; doesn’t have to be romantic) Know how proximity can contribute to relationship formation o Physical proximity, how much physical space lies between you and that person on a day to day basis o Normally, most of our friends have come from close interaction settings, (sports teams, classrooms, neighborhoods) “West gate study” researchers went to an apartment, they had a floor plan for it (layout is on the slide) o They surveyed individuals living in each cluster of apartments, they asked how often they interact with others in the apartment around them, how friendly they are to those close to them proximity wise o Apartment #’s 6 and 7 were friends, #’s 9 and 10 too, #’s 5 and 4 were friends, and interestingly enough, apartment #8 was friends more with everyone because that apartment was in the middle of the stairwell (everyone passed room 8) Be able to articulate the mere exposure effect o Mere exposure: effect by where in general, if you encounter something, the more you encounter it, they more you will like it Advertisers use the mere exposure effect all the time This same effect works with relationships too, if we see someone on a regular basis, that begins to lay groundwork/positivity for a relationship o Mere exposure: overexposure‐ if you didn’t like it the first time, exposure makes it even worse (example: if someone is stalking you, the more and more they Study Guide 2 follow you around, you’re not going to begin to like them more, you’ll start disliking them more) Know how physical attractiveness influences our view of others o Researchers conduction study “welcome week” - Students were formed into random pairs for dates - Wanted to find out what characteristics were best predictors for who really enjoyed their date (similarities were thought to be strongest predictor) - How attractive the individual was, was related to how much the person enjoyed their date - Attractiveness was the best predictor, going against what the researchers predicted! o Another example: Children rate how attractive their peers are, and those rated more attractive were more liked by the unattractive counterparts o Job interviews too, physically attractive individuals tend to do better on job interviews than their non‐attractive peers o Clothing influences attractiveness, men judgin g women like clothing that accentuates attractiveness o Women judging men like clothing that suggests powe r/status/money Understand the matching hypothesis and know when it is violated Matching Phenomenon o People follow this pattern, it says that at the end of the day we tend to form relationships with people who are closest to us in physical attractiveness levels (just a little bit of variance) o People in group of friends tend to be ar ound the same level of physical attractiveness o We tend to choose partners who match us in attractiveness and other traits as well Exceptions for matching phenomenon o Money, power, status affect this Example: rich, older men dating younger beautiful women o Attraction is not a unit of measurement, it is only one part of the equation o Other elements of person can compensate for attractiveness Attraction Part II Be able to define the contrast effect Study Guide 3 o Relates to idea of whether the attractiveness of an individual we’re exposed to in culture, has an impact on us o Research shows that, yes, their attractiveness does have an impact Know the importance of similarity o Similarity: the extent to which individuals overlap in a certain domain: age, race, SES, religion o Complementarity: extent to which individuals fill in the gaps for others If someone is really reliable and good at taking care of details, but not good at making friends, they will look for someone who is good at making friends (and probably not good at taking care of details) o Bulk of research shows that similarity is better predictor for lasting relationship, it is the more important component o A few specific domains where similarity has become really important… matching hypothesis: people look for others who are alike them in physi cal attractiveness Similarity‐Attractiveness o This is a predictor of the long term success of a relationship o Those who are not well matched tend to have dissolved relationships compared to those who are closer in attractiveness Similarity‐Attitudes o Attitudes regarding politics: most individuals in a relationship will be closely related with their political attitudes o Favorite types of food, do you like TV (if so what type of television), outdoor activities, we tend to like people who are similar to us o Doing something as simple as telling a participant that their fellow participant has the same birthday as them, that makes them like each other more (because they feel like they relate more to eachother, they feel more similar) o You’re more likely to like people who are similar to you, compared to people who like the opposite things as you o Religion‐ major attitudes that define peoples’ world views, important in determining how much someone likes another o Were generally drawn towards people who are similar to us (I know this is getting repetitive, but it’s important)! Similarity‐Personality o Important in attractiveness and attitudes o Less evidence for an importance in similarity in personality Study Guide 4 o We tend to like people who are agreeable, conscientious, and open to new experience Agreeable; get along well with others, listen to others points of view, friendly, patient, sit listen and wait their turn Conscientious; reliability, how well you can count on someone, they
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