Attraction Flashcards
3 predictors of attraction
- physical attractiveness
- personality traits
- socially-oriented processes
predictors of attraction: physical attractiveness
- Very high correlation between cultural groups regarding perceived attractiveness of different targets
- Some aspects of physical attractiveness have been found to be universal: clear complexion, bilateral symmetry, average features
- Ideas of what makes someone physically attractive are based on evolutionary psychology (ie. deviations from “ideal” may have signalled health problems, pathogens, etc. → perceived physical health = more attractive)
universal aspects of physical attraction: clear complexion
- skin signals health more directly than most visible aspects; clearer faces more attractive than less clear faces
- Photoshop and makeup industries capitalize on this
universal aspects of physical attraction: bilateral symmetry
- human faces rarely perfectly symmetrical, but high asymmetry signals health issues (may indicate genetic mutations, pathogens, or stressors in the womb)
- Smaller effect size than clear complexion (not as important)
- Very asymmetrical faces generally rated as more unattractive
universal aspects of physical attraction: average features
- large deviations from average features seen as less attractive (average features are less likely to contain genetic abnormalities)
- Morphing of photos allows for averaging of facial features across faces (ie. irregularities, more extreme features, asymmetries) → the more faces used to morph, the more attractive the face is
- Eurasian faces (mix of European and Asian faces) generally perceived to be most attractive, also perceived to be healthiest
physical attractiveness: genetic fitness explanation
- Genes = segment of a chromosome that codes for a function
- Allele = alternate forms of a gene
- – Homozygous: alleles take on the same form
- – Heterozygous: alleles take on different forms
- More homozygosity (ie. being European or Asian) means you have a particular set of immunity; more heterozygosity (ie. being Eurasian) means you had more resistance to infections, more survivability → associated with higher attractiveness
predictors of attraction: personality traits
- Certain characteristics predict greater attraction across cultural environments on all 6 continents:
- Emotional stability (regardless of gender)
- Dependability (regardless of gender)
- Kindness
- Intelligence
predictors of attraction: socially-oriented processes
- Human attraction is a social process, whether romantic or platonic
- Any process of appraising suitability of partner is also a social process
- Some aspects of social interactions increase attraction: propinquity effect and similarity-attraction effect
socially oriented processes: propinquity effect
- Tendency to form interpersonal relationships with those we encounter more often (romantic or not romantic)
- Occurs due to mere exposure effect → more exposure = greater attraction
- Primarily works for people for whom we had slightly negative, neutral, or positive impressions at first
socially-oriented processes: similarity-attraction effect
- Tendency to become attracted to others if they share many similarities with us
- Similarity plays bigger role for important issues than on less important issues
- Tends to be associated with independent self-construal
4 basic elements of sociality
- communal sharing
- authority ranking
- equality matching
- market pricing
- all relationships are based on 1 or more of these elements of sociality
- All four are universal, but variability exists in extent to which each operates:
- Individualistic cultural environments → market pricing
- Traditional subsistence societies → equality matching
4 basic elements of sociality: communal sharing
- Members of a group emphasize common identity based on something socially meaningful
- More pooled resources for everyone to use
Strongest communal groups created via consubstantial assimilation (groups where people see each other as sharing bodies - ie. family, blood pacts) → high level of compassion for each other’s suffering; attack on one = attack on all)
4 basic elements of sociality: authority ranking
- Members of a group linearly ordered along hierarchical social dimension, leading to asymmetrical relationships (ex. The military)
- Status differentiation:
- – Higher ranking → more privilege and prestige, entitled to more resources (give commands to lower ranked people)
- – Lower ranking → entitled to protection and care from above (give obedience to higher ranked people)
4 basic elements of sociality: equality matching
- Relationships are based on reciprocity and balance (everyone deserves the same thing)
- If you give someone something, the expectation is that they will give something back to you
- Unlike communal sharing, contributions are tracked, high need for reciprocation
- Turn-taking to ensure equality matching
4 basic elements of sociality: market pricing
- Emphasizes balance and reciprocity guaranteed by monitoring, but not direct reciprocity
- Not reciprocity in kind (ie. eye-for-an-eye)
- Does not entail turn-taking → resources exchanged on the same turn
- Relies on use of arbitrary symbols (ie. a price) to facilitate interactions (commonly currency) on the same turn
- Ex. exchanging money for goods and services
3 approaches used by organizations/businesses around the world
- Chaebol
- Guanxi
- Simpatia
3 approaches used by organizations/businesses around the world: Chaebol
- South Korean form of business organizations
- Collection of corporations in different domains falling under 1 name, controlled by 1 chairman (and often family)
- Ex. Samsung sells electronics, life insurance, medical centres, etc.
- Runs on a hierarchy with chairman and other executives at the top
- Superiors are supposed to act fatherly to the superiors (be loving, but stern)
- Important to foster sense of family within company - a tight-knit network of relationships
- Mixing of life inside and outside of work (it’s expected that workers socialize with their bosses after work; supervisors often invited to worker’s family functions, etc.)
3 approaches used by organizations/businesses around the world: Guanxi
- Chinese approach to conducting business based on developing relationships and dense personal networks
- Often a mixing of business networks with social networks
- Dense networks come from within networks → networks are seen as a transitive (your network is my network)
- Individuals can directly access another’s network without using intermediaries (ie. access people in partner’s networks without having to go through the partner)
- Assumes indirect links are trustworthy due to accountability from direct links (ie. the person you talk to will want to do their best in order to maintain their reputation in the eyes of the person they know)
- Business decisions not based on objective measures (ie. price), but based on relationships
3 approaches used by organizations/businesses around the world: Simpatia
- Approach to interactions common in Latin cultures (primarily Latin American countries
- Similar to East Asian cultural environments → social harmony and interpersonal attention (focusing on how well others are doing) are important
- Meant to allow for smoother social interactions
- One who is being sympatico demonstrates simpatia
- Differences from East Asian culture contexts:
- More focused on positive affect (you want to make sure people around you are happy)
- Ingroup-outgroup distinction is not as strong (you want to make sure that everyone is happy regardless of their ingroup/outgroup status)
- Bosses from Latin cultural environments pay more attention to goals and aspirations of subordinates
- Workers from Latin cultural environments pay more attention to emotional state of other workers & cooperate more
romantic love
- Romantic love is evolutionarily advantageous (ie. facilitates procreation), and experiencing this is universal
- Historically, love and marriage did not mix
- Long history of love being associated with negative consequences (ie. during Renaissance, love songs, plays, and stories had love being unrequited or leading to tragedy)
- But, there as been variation through time in positivity of association
- Over the last century, perspectives on love and marriage have changed dramatically, but change has not been universal
romantic love and marriage: effect of culture
People in more collectivistic cultures are more willing to marry someone they don’t love compared to individualistic cultures, but even this pattern has been changing - collectivistic cultures are increasingly perceiving the necessity of romantic love in marriage
love songs in different cultures
- When comparing love songs from HK, China, and US:
- Majority of Chinese love songs (vs. minority of American songs) indicated negative outcomes associated with love
- Majority of Chinese love songs (vs. minority of American songs) indicated suffering (ie. sorrow, sadness, pain) as a consequence of love relationships
4 types of marriage systems
- Monogamy (1 person married to 1 person)
- Polygamy (1 man married to many women)
- Polyandry (1 woman married to many men)
- Polygynandry (many men married to many women)
marriage systems: common vs. rare
- Amongst pre-industrial societies, most allow polygamy, but monogamy is still overwhelmingly the most common system
- Polyandry occurs in small number of societies (fraternal polyandry common)
- Where it exists, region usually has scarcity of resources
- Polygynandry is extremely rare
- Sometimes seen in religious enclaves
- Also in extremely resource-scarce environments for more diversification of domestic economic activities (ie. Indian-Himalayan Region)