SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY EXAM 3 STUDY GUIDE ⇒ Define the need to belong • We want to form relationships with others ⇒ Know why we like someone • Proximity • Physical attractiveness • Similarity vs. complementarity ∗ “birds of a feather flock together” vs. “opposites attract” • Liking those who like us ∗ Hard to get? Oh no, doesn’t work ∗ Just telling someone they’re cool might cause them to actually give you a chance ∗ Then again, you don’t want to be the player! You want to be moderately selective − Don’t be non-selective: no taste or no standards − But don’t be too selective: too arrogant (no one’s good enough) a) Because were turned off by those who reject us ⇒ Define the mere exposure effect • Familiarity breeds liking ∗ If you see someone more often, your grow to like them • Happens in many kinds of situations • Happens without us being aware of it • Influences our own perceptions • Limitations ∗ If you don’t like it at first…you’re not gonna like it any better after ∗ Overexposure = you see it so often you get sick of it ⇒ Understand why proximity is important to attraction • Geographically nearness = the closest you are (physically), the more I like you • Friends we make are influenced by where we live, work, sit in class, etc ∗ If you live somewhere where everyone is super friendly (ex the south), you’re influenced to be super friendly, and to like super friendly people • Functional distance also matters! • It allows us to anticipate interaction ∗ Adaptive behavior • Mere exposure (see next objective) ⇒ Explain the matching phenomenon • We tend to choose friends/partners who are matching in attractiveness and other traits to your own • Doesn’t always necessarily work that way ∗ If you have other assets, it can compensate for lack of attractiveness − Donald Trump is….to say the least, ugly. But he’s had a bunch of beautiful wives (which contradicts the matching phenomenon). He’s not attractive, but he has money, power, social status… ⇒ Explain the “what is beautiful is good” hypothesis and its ramifications • What is beautiful is good = people assume that physically attractive people are superior to others on many other traits (happiness, sexual warmth, popularity, intelligence, success, etc) ⇒ Explain cultural differences and similarities in attractiveness• Standards of beauty vary across culture • But some things are valued in all cultures ∗ In women: − Waist-hip ratio − Youthful features − Suggestions of health ⇒ Know which types of faces are judged to be most attractive • Symmetrical • An average of all the faces ⇒ Know what psychologists mean when they say “bad is stronger than good” and how it relates to relationships • Criticism carries more weight than praise. Basically, cruel words stay longer than kind ones • Bad reputation is easier to get, but it’s harder to grow out of. ⇒ Define passionate love • Relationships based on only this last about 6mos-1yr • State of intense longing for union with one another ∗ “you’re the one thing I think about from when I wake up until I go to sleep” kind of love • Reciprocation = fulfillment and joy • Refusal = emptiness & despair • Cool-down of passionate love may cause disillusion, especially if you see it as necessary ⇒ Know the gender differences related to love • Men ∗ Fall in love easily, fall out of love more slowly ∗ Think about playful and physical aspects • Women ∗ Think more about intimacy and friendship in the relationship ⇒ Define compassionate love • Keeps the relationship together • Affection we feel for those with whom our lives are deeply intertwined ∗ Best friends, family, etc • May be adaptive ⇒ Explain how equity is important to relationships • What you get out of a relationship needs to feel equal to what you put into it • Differs between strangers and relationships ∗ Strangers: exchange benefits (balanced) ∗ Close friends & people we love: keep equity more loosely (doesn’t really matter to us whether it’s balanced or not because we love them) ⇒ From the book (Attraction) • Is bad stronger than good? ∗ Study in MIT dorms − Signed everyone up using a questionnaire at the beginning of the year, then got tracked throughout the year. − Researchers made up theories about who would become friends with who (hobbies, majors, similar attitudes, etc)− Results: strongest predictor of friendship = propinquity (proximity). ∗ Follow-up experiment later − Results = propinquity can also lead to conflict and friction − Also (consistent with “bad is stronger than good”), the enemy-making effect was bigger than friend-making effect. a) As the distance between two homes goes down, the probability of friendship goes up, but the probability of becoming enemies goes up even more ∗ Take-home message = regular contact with people amplifies/multiplies the power of other factors − If you’re inclined to like someone, seeing them more often will increase the liking − If you’re inclined to dislike someone, seeing them will create a stronger mutual dislike • The social side of sex ∗ What’s beautiful? − Female beauty is linked with being young and healthy (indicating the potential of being a good mate and partner) a) There’s no known culture that regards a gray-haired, wrinkly woman as beautiful! b) Clear complexion is almost-always seen as beautiful (sign of health) − Symmetry a) Sign of being healthy and having good genes b) People with faces & bodies that are exactly the same on both sides are regarded as more beautiful that people whose faces and bodies are unequal c) Study: 1. Series of body parts were measured in a group of young men to see the degree of symmetry 2. These young men were then asked to sleep in a t-shirt one night when they didn’t use cologne or deodorant. Then bring the t-shirt back to the lab and leave it there. 3. Young women were then brought into the lab to smell the t-shirts and to rate them on how good they smelled. They were also asked when they had their last period. 4. Results = the most symmetrical men’s t-shirts were rated as smelling the best, and this effect was the strongest with the women that were at their most fertile point in their menstrual cycle
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