Interpersonal Relationships: Socio Theories of Attraction

Question 1

What is the mere-exposure effect?

Zajonc

Answer 1

• A psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things simply because they are familiar with them
• The more frequently we are exposed to something, the more we like it

Question 2

Zajonc - Aim

Answer 2

To investigate whether exposure to a certain person originated attraction

Question 3

Zajonc - procedure

Answer 3

• He carried out a lab experiment
• He showed a set of University seniors’ photos of male faces
• Participants were told that they were taking part in a study of “visual memory”
• Participants were shown each photo for only 2 seconds
• Faces were shown with different rates of frequency to different groups
• Each time that they saw a photo, they were asked to rate how much they would like the man on a 7-point scale

Question 4

Zajonc - Findings and Conclusion

Answer 4

Findings:
- When the participants were exposed to the image more frequently, their rating of the likeability of the man in the photo was significantly greater than when they had only seen the image once

Conclusion:
- The results indicate that merely looking at someone (being exposed to them) more frequently will increase our sense of likeability for them
- It also supports that no evidence of cognition or decision-making underwent during this process, as he claims, because there was no time given to do so

Question 5

Zajonc - evaluation

Answer 5

Limitations:
- Ethical considerations in the use of deception: participants were told they were taking part in a study about “visual memory”
- WEIRD sample (white, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic)
- Low ecological validity (not under natural conditions, artificial)
- Demand characteristics: fatigue effect, because after some time, participants may have randomly selected their ratings
- Likeability is not necessarily attraction - this is different compared to how real relationships form
- Testing likeability and not romantic love (problem with the DV and IV)

Question 6

What are cultural dimensions?

Answer 6

• dimensions are how the values of a society affect behavior

Question 7

Li et al - aim

Answer 7

• To see if there were differences in mate preference between Singaporeans and Americans

Question 8

Li et al - procedure

Answer 8

• Participants: undergraduate psych students - American and Singaporean
• Researchers were looking for both “short-term” and “long-term” relationships
• Researchers gave the participants 100 “mate dollars” to spend
• They had to allocate mate dollars to 5 different traits: physical attractiveness, social status, creativity, kindness, and liveliness
• They did this when considering either a short-term or a long-term relationship

Question 9

Li et al - findings & conclusion

Answer 9

Findings:
- Short-term relationships: men and women in both cultures prioritized physical attractiveness
- Long-term relationships: American and Singaporean men prioritized physical attractiveness, American and Singaporean women prioritized social status

Conclusion:
- It’s possible that this study is showing that an evolutionary explanation of mate choice may be more important than cultural differences

Question 10

Li et al - evaluation

Answer 10

Limitations:
- Sample bias: An American sample was taken from a less urban area
- Limited generalisability: University students, only two cultures in the sample
- Cannot relate cause and effect (i.e. does culture shape gender preferences or are they naturally existing?)
- Reductionist approach