Attraction Flashcards
What are the forces that attract people?
1.Reciprocity
2. Similarity
3. Familiarity (Proximity)
How does reciprocity makes people feel attracted to us?
We like people who like us.
We like others more after knowing they like us (Beckman & Secord, 1959; Birnbaum et al. 2018) = feel accepted
They have to like us specifically, not just everyone.
How does similarity makes people feel attracted to us?
Same people flock together.
Hampton et al. (2019) = like people who are like us, especially when they have similar backgrounds, interests + share attitudes and values
Why do we like people who are similar?
Trust others more when similar (Singh et al., 2017)
Feel assured others will like us + enjoy spending time w/ similar others (Hamptom et al., 2019)
Does similarity matter in personality?
No = actual traits e.g agreeableness, emotional stability matter more than similarity on traits (Weidman et al., 2017)
These traits = ↑ enjoyable/ pleasant to be around + to interact w/ (Watson et al., 2014)
How does perceived similarity affect attraction?
Makes people like each other ↑ than actual similarity (Tidwell et al., 2013)
PS ↑ the more relationships progress (Goel et al., 2010)
Outside observers = see actual (dis)similarities + wrongly conclude that opposites attract
How does familiarity (proximity) makes people feel attracted to us?
By chance = see + interact w/ more familiar people. These people are most likely become friends/ romantic partners
How does Festinger et al’s study (1950) support proximity?
Shows a link between physical proximity & friendship formation
MIT students randomly assigned to 1/17 building on housing complex.
Ps asked ‘Who ends up liking whom? List your 3 closest friends’
o 65% at least 1 friend in own building
o 40% = next door, < 25% = 2 doors, 10% end hall
o That 65% only represented 5% of the overall pop.
