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Social Psychology > Affiliation and Attraction > Flashcards

Affiliation and Attraction Flashcards

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1
Q

What is affiliation?

A

The act of associating or interacting with one or more individuals
A need to feel a sense of involvement and belonging within a social group

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2
Q

Why do we affiliate with others?

A
  • We are social creatures

- Helps us to strive and reproduce by providing us with a network of support that will help us in our time of need

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3
Q

Differences in our desire to affiliate

A

Intrapersonal differences - desire to be with others can fluctuate over time and in different contexts
Interpersonal differences - some people have stronger desires to affiliate than others

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4
Q

Models of intrapersonal differences in affiliation

A
  • Privacy regulation theory

- Social affiliation model

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5
Q

Privacy regulation theory

A
  • Altman, 1975

- Our ideal level of privacy fluctuates over time

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6
Q

What influences the privacy regulation theory?

A
  • The dialectic principle, people can vary in their desire for privacy/social interactions in a matter of hours
  • Optimisation principle, people try to match their desired level of social interaction with their actual level of social interaction
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7
Q

Social affiliation model

A
  • O’Connor & Rosenblood, 1996
  • We operate according to the principle of homeostasis
  • We control our level of contact with others to keep it stable, and as close as possible to our desired level
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8
Q

Interpersonal differences in affiliation

A
  • Biological explanations

- Cultural explanations

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9
Q

Biological explanations of interpersonal differences in affiliation

A
  • Brain imaging studies have shown that social interactions produce greater arousal of the central nervous system in introverts than extroverts
  • Introverts may avoid social interaction to stop arousal levels becoming uncomfortable
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10
Q

Cultural explanations of interpersonal differences in affiliation

A

The more individualistic a country is, the more its members desired affiliation (USA vs China, Korea and Japan)

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11
Q

Problems with affiliation

A

Social anxiety

Loneliness

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12
Q

Social anxiety

A

The experience of negative emotion due to the fear of negative interpersonal evaluation

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13
Q

Loneliness

A

The absence of social contact

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14
Q

Socially anxious individuals are more likely to to ____ and _____ negative feedback, and therefore may behave in nervous and uncomfortable ways, resulting in them receiving negative feedback.

A
  • Notice

- Internalise

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15
Q

Loneliness is due to poor ____ interactions rather than _____

A
  • Quality

- Low quantity

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16
Q

Interpersonal attraction

A

The evaluation one person makes of another along a dimension that ranges from strong liking to strong disliking

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17
Q

Factors that influence attraction

A
  • Target-centred determinants - what is it about other people that makes them attractive?
  • Perceiver-centred determinants - how do our own subjective experiences or feelings shape who we find attractive?
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18
Q

Target-centred determinants of attraction…

A

Four key factors…

  • Physical characteristics
  • Similarity to self
  • Complementary characteristics
  • Reciprocity
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19
Q

Physical characteristics

A
  • Waist to hip ration of 0.7 (youthfulness, health, fertility)
  • Facial symmetry (physical health and lack of genetic defects)
  • Average faces (prefer faces which represent the average)
  • Facial maturity (females somewhat immature, men mature = attractive)
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20
Q

Dion, Bershied & Walster (1972)

A

Attractive people were assumed to have more socially desirable personalities (successful, dominant, intelligent, good social skills)

21
Q

Landy & Sigall (1974)

A

Male participants gave better grades to the attractive student than the unattractive student

22
Q

Feingold (1992)

A

Meta-analysis of over 90 studies found no relationship between physical attractiveness and intelligence, dominance, self-esteem or mental health
- But attractive people were found to be less socially anxious and less lonely

23
Q

Why are attractive people less lonely and less socially anxious?

A
  • Self-fulfilling prophecy
  • Someone’s beliefs about another person can cause that person to behave in a way that confirms that expectation
  • As such attractive people are more confident and have better social skills as people they interact with treat them as such
24
Q

Similarity

A
  • We like people similar to us

- Matching hypothesis - we tend to prefer people who are similar in physical attractiveness

25
Q

Mustein (1972)

A

Physically similar couples are more intimate and report greater love than dissimilar couples

26
Q

Carli et al (1991)

A

People have a preference for similarly attractive roommates

27
Q

Byrne & Nelson (1965)

A
  • Participants were asked to complete an attitude questionnaire and then read a second one either similar or dissimilar to theirs
  • Greater percentage of similarity, more the participant liked them
28
Q

Balance theory

A
  • Heider (1958)

- People try to maintain a sense of balance in their thoughts, feelings and social relationships

29
Q

Social comparison

A
  • We prefer those who agree with us as people who disagree with us may cause us to doubt our beliefs and therefore our sense of self
30
Q

Why does similarity lead to attraction - evolutionary explanation

A

Unconsciously attracted to those similar because they share similar genes

31
Q

Complementary characteristics

A
  • Attracted to people with characteristics that complement our own e.g. if they have a trait which we would like to possess
32
Q

Looks-for-status exchange

A

Women can trade looks for status, and men can trade status for looks but the reverse is not true

33
Q

Reciprocity

A

We tend to like those who like us

34
Q

Dittes and Kelley (1956)

A

When placed in discussion groups, participants were led to believe they were liked or disliked, participants who were liked got more attracted to the group

35
Q

Dittes (1959)

A

If our self-esteem is high, we are not as influenced by group behaviour

36
Q

Perceiver-centred determinants of attraction

A

Proximity

Anxiety

37
Q

Proximity

A
  • We tend to like people who are close by

- Not geographical distance, rather how often they cross paths

38
Q

Mere exposure effect

A
  • Zajonc 1968

- Repeatedly being exposed to someone increases attraction

39
Q

Festinger, Schachter & Back (1950)

A
  • 270 students in a housing unit at university

- Asked to name 3 closest friends, 65% mentioned were from the same building

40
Q

Anxiety

A

Experiencing anxiety and stress has been shown to increase affiliation with others

41
Q

Schachter (1959)

A
  • College students told they’d receive electric shocks as part of a physiological experiment
  • Told it would be painful (high-anxiety) or not painful (low-anxiety)
  • Wait for 10 mins with someone else or alone
  • 63% those in anxiety/33% in low anxiety condition waited with someone
  • Anxiety may have caused people to seek out others to take their minds off it
42
Q

Larson, Csikszentmihalyi and Greaf (1982)

A

Adolescents spend about 75% of their waking time with other people

43
Q

Gunnar (2000)

A

Children raised in orphanages (and therefore had a lack of social and physical contact) had aversely affected brain and hormonal systems to cope with stress

44
Q

Two-factor theory of emotion

A
  • Schachter (1964)
  • Emotional experience is based on two factors: physiological arousal and a search for cues in the environment which might explain the arousal
  • If people are anxious they might attribute the anxiety to the behaviour of others
45
Q

Predictors of loneliness

A
  • How close people are to the closest person in their life
  • How many close friends they have
  • How satisfied people were with their relationships
  • Whether they had daily contact with others
46
Q

Matching hypothesis

A

We may be particularly attracted to people we perceive are of similar attractiveness to us

47
Q

Parental investment theory

A
  • Trivers (1972)
  • Women have more serious and long-lasting consequences in reproduction
  • Women are more careful about their advances towards potential mates
48
Q

Self-presentation online themes

A
  • Constructing an attractive profile
  • Misrepresentation
  • Evaluation of potential partners

Social Psychology (9 decks)

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