attraction and partner selection Flashcards
Power of proximity
a basic powerful factor that drives
What was the Westgate Housing Study?
Married MIT students got assigned to one of 17 buildings in a random fashion (natural experiment)
- they tried to guess who would form friendships with whom
RESULT: people living right next door were 2x as likely to become friends as compared to 2 doors down
What is functional distance?
likelihood of coming into contact with other people based on architectural design
What is the mere exposure effect?
When we have more oppurtunity to interact with people who live closer to us but also just being around people
What explains the mere exposure effect?
perceptual fluency explanation: its easier to process familiar stimuli (greater fluency), this fluency is mistaken for liking
classical conditioning: encounters with novel stimuli puts us on guard, so repeated exposure to a stimuli without negative consequences conditions more nice feelings about a person
Do we all agree on what is attractive?
There is a broad consensus about the general features that are considered attractive, evident across different cultural groups and newborn infants shared adults preferences
why is facial symmetry attractive?
1) could be perceptual fluency
2) Could be evolutionary explanation: symmetry tends to be a indicator of reproductive fitness (evidence in animals and humans)
What is the averageness effect?
faces that are more average are seen as more attractive
Does our liking of symmetry trump our liking of familiarity?
In a study in Netherlands and NewZealand. People liked the regular face of a familiar celebrity but liked a symmetrical face of an unfarmilar celebrity.
What are the sex-specific preferences?
female features: “baby-faced”, large eyes, small nose, small chin, full lips, with signs of maturity
- waist to hip ratio= 0.70 as a signal of fertility
male features: broad jaw, wide smile, but soft, friendly features
Why do we believe what is beautiful is good?
- The cultural association view
- motivated cognition view
What is the cultural association view?
our upbringing and media have created the view that what is good is beautiful
We see an attractive target –> percieved positive attributes –> desire to bond with target
What is the motivated cognition view?
- Beauty is an intrinsic reward
- we want to approach rewarding stimuli
- through projection, we perceive attractive targets as possessing attributes compatible with our approach goals
How could beauty be an intrinsic award?
In a study, participants felt more positively when interacting (or expecting to interact) with attractive targets
- there was overlap in brain regions reactive to physically attractive faces and rewards like food and money.
Is the motivated cognition view or cultural association view better?
data is better fit to motivated cognition view
- behavioural confirmation also impacts this
(act more positively toward pretty people so we get more positive behaviour in return)
What is the evolutionary perspective on mate preference for men vs women?
Parental Investment Theory
- men have minimal parental investment and biological cost, whereas women have great biological and time invested.
- male: reproductive success is limited to availability of fertile mates, so preference for indicators of fertility.
- female: care about quality but also need to be more slective due to large cost, so preference for ability to provide for offspring.
What were the results of a study about what traits men and women found appealing? What is the caveat?
Across cultures, most, most attributes were rated similairly but men valued physical appearance more and women valued resource acquisition more.
CAVEAT: most places, women have less access to status and resources and men are socialized to value physical attractiveness.
In real life, do these preferences show?
In a meta-analysis of 97 studies, evaluations were generally more positive for more attractive partners and partners with better earning potential
BUT there was no big difference between sexes
Are men or women more likely to pursue short term or long term mating strategies?
men: more likely to pursue short term due to parental investment theory
BOTH: can shift from short to long if the benefits outweigh the costs
What is the dual mating strategy?
The idea that women will show preference for cues of male fitness (masculine faces) during high fertility and ovulatory phase of menstrual cycle AND will show preferences for feminized faces at other points in their menstrual cycle.
What is social exchange theory?
postulates that we act a bit like shoppers on an interpersonal marketplace. We want to maximize rewards and minimize costs.
We seek partners with highest mate value possible
What is mate value?
more than physical attractiveness and resources, it includes partner traits that are conductive to high relationship quality (warmth, kindness)
What is reciprocity?
The idea that we like people more if they know they like us, tied to our fundamental need to belong
Are there biological mechanisms that positively reinforce belonging ?
A study with PET scans found that when participants were told that a desirable partner likes them there was increased activation of a system of receptors that mediate rewarding effects of opioid drugs liek heroin
What is selectivity?
the idea that we want to feel like someone likes us, specifically.
What were the results of the selectivity speed dating study?
When a participant unqiuley desired a particular partner, that partner tended to reciprocate that desire more. When a participant tended to desire many partners, partners experienced less desire for the participant.
What is the matching phenomenon?
There is some evidence that couples tend to be similar in attractiveness
Explain the “movie rating” study about managing risk
Participants were asked to rate a movie, when they entered the room there were two tables (2 seats) each with a screen in front and an attractive confederate at one of the tables. They either had the low ambiguity condition (same movie on each screen) or high ambiguity condition (dif movies)
RESULT: more likely to sit next to confederate in high ambiguity condition
What are 3 factors that predict intensity of unrequited love?
- perceived potential value of relationship
- perceived probability of striking up a relationship
- perceived benefits to self of loving the person, even if not reciprocated
What is the rejector and pursuer?
rejector: no-win situation, usually negative looking back, see themselves as morally innocent but feel guilty, reluctance to cause pain
pursuer: situation as high-stake gamble, look back with mix of emotions, feel like they have been led on
Why might similarity be attractive?
- validation of interests, beliefs, and opinions
- we can better predict the behaviour of others
- can participate in shared activities
- we expect people more similar to us like us
- smoother interactions
Explain the bogus stranger study on similarity and attraction
a “stranger” is in the lab and their responses to questions are manipulated to be either similar or dissimilar, then the participant has to evaluate them.
RESULT: attitudinal similarity predicts attraction for people we don’t know. When stranger had more PERCEIVED similarity, lead to higher attraction
In relationships, are couples generally similar?
There is a lot of evidence for this.
STUDY: 1000 married couples asked questions and they were more similar on 66/88 traits than random people coupled together.
Is similarity about demographic, personality, or attitudes and values?
- It seems the link between similarity and attraction is stronger with similar values/ attitudes than some demographics and personalities.
Does similarity in partners mean more satisfaction?
Not, necessarily. Having a partner with desirable personality traits more important than matching.
Couples similar on unappealing traits less successful than couples who are less alike on these traits
What is neurohomphily?
tendency of nodes to connect to others of the same type
What is influence in regards to neurohomphily?
tendency of nodes to influence each other over time
Explain the study at Dartmouth about neurohomphily.
Measured brain responses of Ps right when they arrived at Dartmouth when watching naturalistic complex stimuli (vid clip). They then waited until the social network was stable and checked in on friendships.
RESULT: we seem to make friends with people who think like us. Neural responses to vid clips were more similar among friends than with others.
Why do people think opposites attract?
- perception vs reality: we may perceive more similarity than their is because we like them.
- Discovering dissimilarities can take time
- We may pursue partners that represent our ideal selves
- dissimilarity may dec over time
- some types of similarity more important than others
- macthing is a broad process
What is complementarity?
the idea that we are attracted to people who possess qualities we lack
- not well-backed by evidence
What are fatal attractions?
when we may be originally attracted to some traits we don’t have, but then become increasingly irritated by these traits.
ex. tight wallets vs spenders
Do our preferences actually predict partner choice?
- studies show that ideal preferences failed to predict desires of real-life people
How does online dating work? Are these algorithms accurate?
In a study of machine learning and matchmaking, algorithm detected desire of other with 18% accuracy, is desired with 27% accuracy bit unique desire ofr relationship with <1% accuracy
Is there a genetic component to chemistry?
Studies show that Major Histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes play signifigant roles in the immune system and help recognize pathogens.
- selection of mates with dissimilar MHC genes may confer benefits to offspring.
STUDY: women found odours of men with dissimilar MHC genes more attractive
How does context affect attraction?
it seems that context can impact attraction. In a study on Cap suspension bridge, men were more likely to give their number to an attractive women when they were on a scary bridge.
What is the two factor theory of romantic attraction?
- Physiological arousal
- Misattribution of arousal
We seem to experience passion if we can assign physiological arousal to a person, the nature of the aroual doesn’t matter
