chapter 10: interpersonal attraction: from first impressions to close relationships

Question 1

explain the propinquity effect

Answer 1

One determinant of interpersonal attraction is proximity.
-Sometimes also called propinquity

Propinquity Effect
-The finding that the more we see and interact with people, the more likely they are to become our friends

Question 2

explain the study about propinquity effect and college campus

Answer 2

Festinger et al. 1950
-Asked people in an on-campus apartment complex who their three closest friends were…
-41% of the next-door neighbors indicated they were close friends
-22% of those who lived two doors apart
-Only 10% of those who lived on opposite ends of the hall

Question 3

what is functional distance

Answer 3

Functional distance refers to certain aspects of architectural design that make it more likely that some people will come into contact with each other more often than with others
-People who lived by the mailboxes were more likely to have upstairs friends

Question 4

what is mere exposure effect

Answer 4

-The Propinquity Effect occurs due to Mere Exposure.
-Mere Exposure Effect
-The finding that the more exposure we have to a stimulus, the more apt we are to like it

Question 5

explain the study about mere exposure and a class

Answer 5

Moreland and Beach (1992):
- 4 female confederates attended a large class
-either 0, 5, 10, or 15 times
- at the end of the semester students rated the women
- the more often she was there the more they liked her

Question 6

explain similarity vs. complementary

Answer 6

“Birds of a feather flock together” (similarity)
-What about “opposites attract” (complementarity)?

Research overwhelmingly supports
-Similarity
-Not complementarity

Question 7

explain the studies about roommates and gay relationships and how it relates to similarlir

Answer 7

Newcomb (1961): College men randomly assigned to be room mates
-Factors that predicted friendship:
-Demographics
-Attitudes
-Values

Boyden et al. (1984): gay men’s preferences
-Stereotypically masculine men wanted a logical partner
-Stereotypically feminine men wanted an expressive partner

Question 8

explain the role of selection bias

Answer 8

-situations you choose to be in expose you to others with similar interests.
-Then, when you discover and create new similarities, they fuel the friendship.
-Close friendships are often made in college, in part because of prolonged propinquity.

Question 9

explain similarity in close relationships vs. flings

Answer 9

For committed relationship
-Choose a similar partner
-Relationships based on differences can be difficult to maintain
-Perceived similarity more important than actual similarity
-Low level of commitment (fling)
-Choose dissimilar partners

Question 10

explain reciprocal liking

Answer 10

We like people who like us

For initial attraction, reciprocal liking can overcome
-Dissimilarity in attitudes

Question 11

explain study about reciprocal liking and attitudes

Answer 11

Gold et al. (1984) – woman conversed with men while leaning towards them and maintaining eye contact. She would disagree with what they were saying though and express different attitudes
-Men liked her despite attitude differences

Question 12

explain attentional biases to attractive faces and reciprocal liking

Answer 12

Thinking of your crush liking you disrupts attention to attractive faces; people tend to pay more attention to attractive faces except when they are actively thinking about being liked by another

Question 13

explain the power of familiarity and the study about morphing faces

Answer 13

-Familiarity may be crucial variable for interpersonal attraction.
-People prefer faces that most resemble their own.

study
-Unbeknownst to participants, researchers morphed the participants’ pictures with a picture of a member of the opposite sex
-Participants rated these pictures higher; you are the most familiar with your own face

Question 14

explain how familiarity relates to propinquity, similarity, and reciprocal liking

Answer 14

-Propinquity
-Gain familiarity through mere exposure

Similarity
-If similar will also seem familiar

Reciprocal liking
-People who we like and get to know become familiar

Question 15

does physical attractiveness play a role? (include study about personality test)

Answer 15

Physical attractiveness
-Plays an important role in liking

Walster et al. (1966)
-Matched 752 incoming freshmen for a blind date
-Everyone took a personality/aptitude test, but they were paired randomly
-Reported desire to see person again
-Physical attractiveness most important factor

Question 16

gender differences in physical attractiveness and why

Answer 16

Gender differences? Yes in attitudes, but similar in behaviors
-Differences are larger when attitudes are measured
-Men more likely than women to report attraction is important
-Gender similarities in behaviour

Why? Could be because society tells men it matters, whereas women are told that it does not matter

Question 17

what is attractive in female faces

Answer 17

-Large eyes
-Small nose
-Small chin
-Prominent cheekbones
-High eyebrows
-Large pupils
-Big smile

Question 18

what is attractive in male faces

Answer 18

-Large eyes
-Prominent cheekbones
-Large chin
-Big smile

Question 19

explain similarities in attractiveness across cultures

Answer 19

Facial attractiveness perceived similarly across cultures
-Symmetry is preferred
-Size, shape, and location of the features on one side match the other side of face
-May indicate health
-Better able to reproduce healthy children, genes are more likely to be passed on for people that prefer healthy features

“Averaged” composite faces preferred
-Lost atypical or asymmetrical variation

Question 20

explain the study about averaging for beauty

Answer 20

Physical attractiveness of composite faces. Langlois and Roggman (1990) created composites of faces using a computer. Pictured here is the first step in the process: The first two women’s photos are merged to create the “composite person” at the far right. This composite person has facial features that are the mathematical average of the facial features of the two original women.
-The more averaged faces get more attractive ratings from others; people prefer average features
-The more faces you morph together, the more attractive, things are getting more average

Question 21

what assumptions are made about attractive people

Answer 21

Benefits of beauty

Beauty has been associated with:
-better health outcomes for infants in hospitals
-better earnings
-better teaching evaluations
-winning elections

Question 22

explain the halo effect

Answer 22

Physical beauty affects attributions

Halo Effect:
-A cognitive bias by which we tend to assume that an individual with one positive characteristic also possesses other (even unrelated) positive characteristics

Question 23

explain the what is beautiful is good stereotype

Answer 23

The beautiful are thought to be more:
-Sociable
-Extraverted
-Popular
-Sexual
-Happy
-Assertive

Question 24

“what is beautiful is good” stereotype across cultures

Answer 24

Talked to people from eastern cultures and western cultures
-Found that certain traits people in both cultures think beautiful people have (e.g. happy, friendly, extraverted)
-However, western cultures said strong, assertive and dominant
-Eastern cultures said honest empathetic and trustworthy
-Due to individualistic vs. collectivistic cultures

Question 25

explain attractive people and the self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 25

Highly attractive people:
-Do develop good social interaction skills
-Report having more satisfying interactions with others

Self-fulfilling prophecy
-The beautiful receive a great deal of social attention
-Helps them develop good social skills

Question 26

explain the study that explains “can a “regular” person be made to act like a “beautiful” one via the self-fulfilling prophecy?”

Answer 26

Snyder et al. (1977)
-Had men talk on a phone with a woman; men were given information about the woman beforehand, also included a picture that was of a beautiful woman or a not beautiful woman; had a conversation with this woman- question: would the woman be friendlier or warmer to the man when the man thought the woman was attractive?
-Recorded the telephone calls and independent raters listened to them and rated how warm the woman was, only got to hear the woman’s side of responses
-If men talking to women on the phone believe she is attractive
-Elicit warmer, friendlier responses
-Raters rated the “attractive” woman as warmer and friendlier than the woman who was not “attractive”

-Same for women
-Reversed the roles of the men and women and found the exact same thing

Question 27

explain evolution

Answer 27

-Traits are determined by genes
-Traits that support survival allow the genes that created those traits to be passed on
-We still have those traits today
-Traits that inhibit survival prevent the genes that created those traits from being passed on
-So we no longer have those traits

Question 28

what is evolutionary psychology

Answer 28

The attempt to explain social behavior in terms of genetic factors that evolved over time according to the principles of natural selection

Question 29

stereotypes for men and women about what they look for in partners

Answer 29

Stereotype that exists for men: want someone beautiful and a lot of sexual partners

Stereotype that exists for women: want someone with money and commitment to one partner

Question 30

What did men need to do in order to pass on their genes in a hunter gatherer world?

Answer 30

-Mate widely (have lots of sexual partners, biologically the investment for a man to pass on their genes is a very small investment, just takes a few minutes and can happen frequently)
-Investment is low

Just need fertile females
-The discussions we’ve had about what is considered beautiful correlates to fertility

Question 31

What did women need to do in order to pass on their genes in a hunter gatherer world?

Answer 31

-Mate wisely
-Investment is high (takes almost a year to have a child, women have a finite number of eggs)
-Need males who will provide for her and child, hard for pregnant women to do this in a hunter gatherer world, also hard when a child is born
-And someone who will stick around and have an emotional bond with her

Question 32

how are these hunter-gatherer differences in effective reproductive strategies cause gender differences in attraction

Answer 32

Women are attracted by men’s resources
-Reproductive success: raising offspring to maturity
-Greater resources increases chances of survival
-Money, power

Men are attracted by women’s appearance
-Reproductive success: maximize number of offspring
-Greater fertility, and greater numbers, increases chances of some children surviving
-Stereotypically “beautiful” characteristics correlate with fertility
-Youth, nice skin, waist to hip ratio

Question 33

explain evidence for evolutionary approach (study asking men and women about what they are looking for in marriage partner)

Answer 33

Evidence for evolutionary approach:
-Asked more than 9,000 adults in 37 countries desirable marriage partner characteristics (Buss, 1989; Buss et al., 1990)
-Women: valued ambition, industriousness, and earning capacity more than men
-Men: valued attractiveness more than women

Top characteristics for both the same:
-honesty, trustworthiness, pleasant personality

Question 34

what are two alternate perspectives on sex differences

Answer 34

1) Gender differences are status differences
-Women often have less power and wealth, so need a wealthy man
-Gangestad (1993): in cultures where women have more economic power, they value physical attractiveness in men more

2) Gender differences are due to culture
-Men are taught
-it’s ok to be promiscuous
-Physical attractiveness is important
-Research has shown that what is viewed as attractive has changed overtime, this is another point against evolutionary psychology because if their model was completely true, what is viewed as attractive would stay the same; people have used this to say that it is all about status (skinny means you have time and money to work out, heavier back then means you had access to food)

Question 35

what is companionate love

Answer 35

-The intimacy and affection we feel when we care deeply for a person
-Do not experience passion or arousal in the person’s presence.
-Non-sexual relationships, close friendships

Question 36

what is passionate love

Answer 36

-An intense longing we feel for a person, accompanied by physiological arousal (breadth, heart)
-When our love is reciprocated, we feel great fulfillment and ecstasy
-When it is not, we feel sadness and despair

Question 37

explain cross culture evidence for different kinds of love

Answer 37

Different cultures tend to have more or less of passionate love present in relationships
Passionate and Companionate Love Across Cultures

Americans value passionate love more than the Chinese

The Chinese value companionate more

Taita of Kenya value both equally

Question 38

what are attachment styles

Answer 38

The expectations people develop about relationships with others, based on the relationship they had with their primary caregiver when they were infants

Question 39

what are the three styles of attachment

Answer 39

secure, anxious/ambivalent, and avoidant

Question 40

what is the strange situation test

Answer 40

-Developed by Mary Ainsworth
-Mother can child are in a playroom
-Mother comes and goes
-Child’s reaction is assessed
-Particularly when mother returns
-Stranger comes into room
-Child’s reaction is assessed again

Question 41

explain secure attachment in strange situation and as adults

Answer 41

Strange situation
-Baby is wary, but explores
-Cries when mother leaves, but will eventually calm down
-Calms down when mother returns
-Wary of stranger
-Consistent, responsive caregiving

As adults
-Trust, a lack of concern with being abandoned
-View that one is worthy and well-liked

Question 42

anxious/ambivalent attachment in strange situation and as adults

Answer 42

Strange Situation
-Baby is really scared of new situation, always uneasy
-Freaks out when mother leaves, never calms down
-Angry when mother returns – strange ambivalent behavior
-Hates stranger
-Inconsistent caregiving, sometime responsive

As adults
-Concern that others will not reciprocate one’s desire for intimacy
-Results in higher-than-average levels of anxiety

Question 43

explain avoidant attachment in strange situation and as adults

Answer 43

Strange Situation
-Baby is comfortable in new situation
-Doesn’t seem to notice when mother leaves
-Doesn’t seem to notice when mother returns
-Doesn’t treat mother differently than stranger
-Caregiving is not responsive

As adults
-Suppression of attachment needs, because attempts to be intimate have been rebuffed
-People with this style find it difficult to develop intimate relationships

Question 44

explain the three attachment styles on closeness

Answer 44

Secure
-“I find it relatively easy to get close to others and am comfortable depending on them and having them depend on me. I don’t often worry about being abandoned or about someone getting too close.”

Avoidant
-“I am somewhat uncomfortable being close to others; I find it difficult to trust them completely, difficult to allow myself to depend on them. I am nervous when anyone gets close, and often love partners want me to be more intimate than I feel comfortable being.”

Anxious
-“I find that others are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I often worry that my partner doesn’t really love me or won’t stay with me. I want to merge completely with another person, and this desire sometimes scares people away.”

Question 45

explain how attachment styles become schema for all relationships

Answer 45

Attachment style learned in infancy becomes schema for all relationships

Secure Attachment:
-More likely to develop mature, lasting relationships

Avoidant Attachment:
-Less able to trust others and find it difficult to develop close, intimate relationships

Anxious/Ambivalent Attachment:
-Want closeness, but worry partner will not return affection

Question 46

is attachment style destiny?

Answer 46

no

-If people had unhappy relationships with their parents, they are not doomed to repeat this!
-People’s experience in relationships can help them learn new and more healthy ways of relating to others.
-People may develop more than one attachment style over time.

Question 47

who is most likely to cheat on partner

Answer 47

Heavy social media users

Men whose age ends in “9”
-Ashley Madison, a website where people would sign up for it if they wanted to cheat on their spouses, there was a leak
-No longer exists, but made the data on the website available to psychologists; found that it was mostly men and mostly men whose age ended in a 9
-Idea behind it: I am getting older, I am not as good looking as I used to be, have to take my chance to be with someone else while I can

Someone who has already cheated

Someone who goes from uninterested in sex to very interested in sex suddenly

Powerful people
-Same for women and men
-People who feel powerful tend to go after the things they want more, people get what they want when they are powerful