Close relationships Flashcards
why was attraction necessary for our ancestors
social bonds boosted our ancestors’ survival rates and led to protection from predators, food and reproduction. these bonds led to:
-protecting against predators, especially for the young
-obtaining food
-reproducing
‘ingredients’ to belongingness
regular social contact with others
close, stable mutually intimate contact
having one of these elements without the other results in partial satisfaction
the need to belong theory
-wanting to belong
-social acceptance - increases self-esteem
-maintaining relationships - we resist breaking relationships even if they are bad, e.g. abusive relationships
-ostracism - social exclusion leads to demoralisation and depression
-lack of close relationships - this leads to poor mental health. e.g. depression
physical attraction
based on appearance, proximity
psychological attraction
based on attitude similarity, mutual liking
according to Hatfield et al’s study, which form of attraction (physical or psychological) was a better predictor of high ratings of a partner
physical attraction
pps were matched on personality but when rating their partner, personality matches were poor predictors of rating, instead only physical attractiveness mattered
what is seen to be physically attractive
‘average’ faces seemed to be the most attractive
prototypical (digitized or mathematically average) faces more attractive than real faces
closer to the mental prototype of a face and therefore more familiar and easier to process
physical attractiveness stereotype
the tendency to assume that attractive people possess other socially desirable traits in addition to their looks
becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy
why is a prototypical face seen as more attractive
a prototypical face shows biological ‘quality’
this shows a diverse gene pool
likely to be a stronger, better mate
likely to be more fertile
people also like facial symmetry
people prefer dogs, cats, birds and other things which are symmetrical
evolutionary perspectives on attractiveness
-facial symmetry
-a prototypical face
-gender differences - women focus on status and men focus on youth and beauty
evidence for evolutionary factors on attraction
-ovulating strippers get more tips
-women were rated as more attractive when tehy were most fertile
-when ovulating, women prefer the smell of t shirts of symmetrically faced men
the matching phenomenon
people tend to be attracted to others who are about the same level of physical attractiveness as themselves
matched couples usually have longer lasting relationships
people can compensate or make up for their looks to make themselves attractive in other ways, e.g. humour, wealth, sociability
familiarity and proximity affecting attraction
finding someone familiar or being close to them can facilitate attraction (the propinquity effect - Festinger et al)
people prefer faces that look like their own
repeated exposure to someone is likely to lead to increased liking (related to the exposure effect - Zajonc)
effects of positive and negative exposure to someone on attraction
when an initial reaction is negative, repeated exposure will decrease liking (social allergy)
when an initial reaction is positive, repeated exposure will increase liking
the exposure effect
at first, new things make us feel uncomfortable
the more we are exposed to them, the more they become familiar
if there is no harm, familiarity turns into liking
