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PSYC 474 > Lecture 6: Attraction and Partner Selection Part 3 > Flashcards

Lecture 6: Attraction and Partner Selection Part 3 Flashcards

1
Q

why might similarity be attractive?

A
  • Validation for our interests, beliefs, & opinions
  • We can better predict the behaviour of similar others
  • Can participate in shared activities
  • We expect those who are similar to us to
    be more likely to like us
  • Interactions may run smoother
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2
Q

effect of similarity on initial attraction

A

Attitudinal similarity predicts attraction for people we don’t know (or with whom we are newly acquainted)

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3
Q

“Bogus stranger” paradigm

A

responses are manipulated to be either similar or dissimilar to one’s own responses

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4
Q

effect similarity in speed dating studies

A
  • There is limited evidence of a link between attraction and similarity in a speed-dating content
  • To the extent that similarity matters in this context, perceived rather than actual similarity may play a larger role
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5
Q

similarity in married couples

A
  • 1,000 married couples provided information about themselves on 88 characteristics
  • More similar on 66/88 traits compared to pairs matched at random
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6
Q

what is the directionality of the similarity-relationship link?

A
  • Similarity predicts friendship development among newly acquainted
  • Similarity does not increase over the course of marriage
  • Length of marriage does not moderate spousal similarity
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7
Q

types of similarity

A
  • Demographic similarity (ex. Age, race, education, religion, etc.)
  • Attitudes and values
  • Personality
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8
Q

for what type of similarity is the link most strong and why?

A
  • Link between similarity & attraction seems to be stronger for attitudes/values and some demographic characteristics than for personality
  • As we saw, some personality characteristics are more uniformly desirable than others
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9
Q

similarly & satisfaction

A
  • Similarity between partners’ personalities explains only small amount of variation in satisfaction
  • Having a partner with desirable personality traits (ex. agreeableness, conscientiousness, low neuroticism) more important than matching
  • Couples similar on unappealing traits less successful than couples who are less alike on these traits
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10
Q

neural homophily study

A
  • Measuring neural activity while individuals view naturalistic stimuli (e.g., movie clips) thought to offer view into thought processes as they unfold
  • In this study, neural responses to movie clips more similar among friends than those further removed in a real-world social network
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11
Q

previous research on neural homophily

A

inter-subject correlations of neural response time series during viewing of complex dynamic stimuli associated with similarities in subjects’ interpretation of those stimuli

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12
Q

homophily

A

the tendency of nodes to connect to other similar nodes

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13
Q

why do we think opposites attract?

A
  • Perception vs. reality: perceptions of similarity may be more important for liking than objective similarity
  • Discovering dissimiarities can take time
  • We may pursue partners that represent our ideal selves
  • Dissimilarity may decrease over time
  • Some types of similarity may be more important than others
  • Matching is a broad process
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14
Q

complementarity

A
  • Perhaps we are attracted to people who possess the qualities we lacl
  • There is little support for this idea
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15
Q

happiness of egalitarian vs. traditional couples

A
  • Members of egalitarian couples are happier than more traditional couples
  • This may help explain results of some studies showing higher satisfaction in gay and lesbian couples
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16
Q

humour in relationships

A
  • There is no gender differences in preference for a partner with a sense of humour, but men do not rate funny women more highly
  • There are different interpretations of what it means to have a sense of humour
  • Men like women who laugh at their jokes and women like men who make them laugh
17
Q

do preferences predict attraction? speed-dating study

A
  • Before the event: they rate the importance of physical appearance, earning potential & attractive personality in an ideal romantic partner
  • During the event: they rate each interaction partner on the above characteristics and indicate their level of desire
  • Ideal preferences failed to predict desire at the event
18
Q

promises of online dating

A

Online dating platforms claim to have sophisticated algorithms that can match you with a perfect partner based on the large amount of data they collect

19
Q

efficacy of online dating study method

A
  • Participants completed over 100 self-report measures, including personality, attachment, mating strategies, values, ideal partner preferences
  • Desire for each partner was assessed during a speed dating event
  • Statistical model: Can account for interactions between predictors
  • Parses variance in romantic desire into 3 components
20
Q

3 components of romantic desire

A

actor variance, partner variance, and relational variance

21
Q

actor variance

A

the overall tendency to desire others

22
Q

partner variance

A

the overall tendency to be desired by other people

23
Q

relational variance

A

people’s desire for specific partners

24
Q

efficacy of online dating study findings for actor desire

A
  • Predicted 4-18% of variance in actor desire
  • Consistent predictors: desired warmth/responsiveness, one’s own expected selectivity
25
Q

efficacy of online dating study findings for partner desire

A
  • 7-27% variance in partner desire
  • Consistent predictors: self-reports of one’s own mate value and physical attractiveness
26
Q

efficacy of online dating study findings for relationship desire

A

Could not predict variance in relationship desire

27
Q

fatal attraction

A

we may be originally attracted to some traits we don’t have but then become increasingly irritated by those traits

28
Q

efficacy of online dating study caveats

A
  • Generalizability: relatively homogenous sample (undergraduates)
  • Desire was measured after a single 4-minute interaction: Results may look different for long-term romantic compatibility
29
Q

do we have a type?

A
  • Collected self-reports of personality from individual’s current and former partners
  • Found evidence of unique (distinctive) similarity between current partner’s profile & ex-partner’s profile
  • Controlling for normative similarity
    (this suggests that the key finding is not due to shared environments)
  • There is some evidence that more extraverted and open-minded participants are less likely to be in a relationship with a partner distinctively similar to ex-partner
30
Q

Major histocompability complex (MHC)

A

genes play a significant role in immune system; help recognize and respond to pathogens

31
Q

MHC and offspring

A

Selection of MHC-dissimilar mates may confer benefits for offspring

32
Q

MHC study

A
  • Women were asked to rate odours of t-shirts previously worn by a group of men
  • Odours of men with dissimilar-MHC antigens were seen as more attractive
  • Moderated by oral contracptive use
  • There were subsequent replications, but they were not consistent
33
Q

context and attraction

A
  • Preferences feel like a stable part of our identity
  • One reason why attraction may be somewhat unpredictable is due to the effects of context on attraction
34
Q

normative similarity

A

reflection of how people describe themselves in general ad self-partner similarity

35
Q

Capilano Suspension Bridge Study

A
  • Men who saw an attractive woman on a scary bridge were more likely to call her than those who saw her on a safer bridge.
  • The men also wrote more romantic and sexual content in their stories if they met the woman on the scary bridge than the safe one
36
Q

Two factors of romantic attraction

A
  1. Physiological arousal
  2. Misattribution of arousal: attributing physiological arousal to the wrong source
37
Q

two-factor theory of romantic attraction

A
  • We will experience passion if we can assign physiological arousal to the target
  • Nature of arousal (negative or positive) does not matter
  • This effect may not generalize to contexts where physiological arousal is frequent and/or anger-provoking situations
  • Theories of aggression suggest that misattribution of arousal from a negative event may contribute to interpersonal aggression
38
Q

two-factor theory of romantic attraction shock study

A
  • Brought participants in for a study of “electric shock on learning and pain”
  • They completed the task with an attractive confederate
  • Two conditions: expecting either a weak or strong shock
  • Measured attraction to the confederate
  • Those expecting a strong shock reported more attraction to the confederate
39
Q

two factor theory of romantic attraction positive vs. negative arousal study

A
  • Is the effect contingent on type of arousal or attractiveness of confederate?
  • Manipulated the type of arousal
  • Negative: description of mutilation & killing
  • Positive: comedy tape
    neutral/no arousal: description of the circulatory system of a frog
  • Then, they watched a video of a woman made up to look either attractive or non-attractive
  • Regardless of the type of arousal condition, participants experienced the confederate as more attractive than in the no arousal condition
  • For the low attractiveness confederate, this effect seems to flip

PSYC 474 (15 decks)

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