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 Symmetrical An average of all the faces Know which types of faces are judged to be most attractive 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 Reciprocation fulfillment and joy Refusal emptiness despair Cool down of passionate love may cause disillusion especially if you see it as of love necessary Men Women Know the gender differences related to love Fall in love easily fall out of love more slowly Think about playful and physical aspects 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 If you re inclined to dislike someone seeing them will create a stronger mutual liking 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 b Clear complexion is almost always seen as beautiful sign of health beautiful 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 degree of symmetry 1 Series of body parts were measured in a group of young men to see the 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 i Take home when women are most prone to get pregnant they re more attracted to the bodily smell of men that were most symmetrical and hence would have the best genes Know why social psychologists study rejection Chronic rejection linked to a variety of problems Know which types of problems are linked to social rejection Physical impairs immune system functioning poor quality sleep increased likelihood of death Psychological high rates of psychological problems depression suicide anxiety Social aggression among young and old people linked to social exclusion Identify the three types of rejection Rejection direct exclusion of individuals Ex I don t want to play with you
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