Factors affecting attraction Flashcards
What are the four factors that affect attraction?
- Self-disclosure
- Filter theory
- The matching hypothesis
- Physical attraction
What is self-disclosure?
The revealing of personal information about oneself to another
What are the four factors affecting the relationship between self-disclosure and attraction?
- Appropriateness - sometimes disclosing information indicates that an individual is maladjusted and lacks social skills, such as on a first date, which is seen as “over the top”. Social norms dictate what is an acceptable disclosure.
- Attributions - the reason for the disclosure is important to the person that the information is being shared with; more attraction occurs if we believe an individual sees us as someone they especially want to disclose to.
- Gender - Women are seen as better communicators, and so they seem to be more interested in information that is disclosed, and self-disclosure by a male may be seen as rewarding for the woman. However, men may feel uncomfortable when women self-disclose intimate details.
- Content - generally, intimate disclosures are viewed favourably, but disclosure of highly intimate information may be seen as inappropriate and violate social norms, especially in the early stages of a relationship.
What did Altman and Taylor report?
Disclosing information in the initial stages of a relationship was inappropriate and did not enhance attraction
What did Kito do and find?
Looked cross-culturally and found that self-disclosure was more common in romantic relationships than platonic relationships, suggesting this is universal
Why is physical attractiveness important?
It takes time to learn someone’s personality and values, but physical attractiveness is an immediate and accessible way to assess a potential partner
What did Brigham find?
Physically attractive people are seen to have socially desirable personality characteristics such as sociable and excitable, supporting the Halo Effect
What did Gunnel and Ceci find?
In court unattractive people were 22% more likely to be convicted and were given a sentence 22 months longer than attractive people - supporting the Halo Effect
What is the matching hypothesis?
The idea that individuals are attracted to people of similar perceived attractiveness, as there is less chance of being rejected.
It has also been hypothesised that individuals in a relationship with someone of similar physical attractiveness feel more secure, due to fears that a more attractive partner might be tempted to end the relationship for a more attractive partner
What did Murstein research and what did he find?
The filter theory: When shown pictures of genuine and non-genuine couples, the genuine couples were judged to be of more similar levels of attractiveness than the non-genuine couples
What did Walster’s original matching hypothesis state?
Individuals desired someone as socially desirable as themselves. Over time the hypothesis has come to mean solely physical attractiveness, something not considered in the original hypothesis
What is the filter theory and who developed it?
Kerckhoff and Davis: Choice of partners is affected by factors limiting the availability of those possible to select from
What are the three filters of the filter theory?
- Similarity of social demographic variables - focus is upon individuals we are realistically likely to meet and whom we will have something in common with, such as people we work and live with, are the same ethnicity or religion etc.
- Similarity in attitudes - The degree of likeness between individuals’ viewpoints. Focus here is on people meeting and socialising, thus being exposed to others’ values.
- Complementarity - The ability of individuals to meet each others’ needs, especially emotional ones. This makes a relationship “deeper” and less superficial and is regarded as the most important factor for establishing commitment to a long-term relationship.
What makes the filter theory arguably irrelevant?
Online dating widens your filter exponentially
What did Festinger find and how was this supported by Clark?
Festinger: People who lived the closest to the stairways in apartment blocks had the most contact with other residents of the block and formed the most friendships, suggesting that social demographic variables do affect the choice of potential partners
Clark: 50% of citizens in Columbus, Ohio, were married to partners who initially lived within walking distance of their house
