Lecture 8 - love and attraction Flashcards
Festinger, Schachter, & Back 1950
270 MIT students randomly assigned to apartment within 17 building married student housing complex
Asked to name 3 closest friends within complex
65% is friend mentioned were from same building
Out of student: living on same floor
They closer they are ( in terms of doors down), the better the friends
What influences attraction?
- Proximity
- Physical attractiveness
- Similarity
- Reciprocity
- Environmental effects
What is propinquity?
Proximity/ physical closeness of one person to another
The greater the degree of propinquity, the more likely 2 people will be attracted to each other and become friends
Mere exposure effect
Bornstein (1989)
Moreland and Beach (1992)
Milgram (1970)
Zajong (2001)
Moreland + Beach (1992)
Introduced four fake students of similar appearance into large college course All attended the class at varying amount None spoke or made contact with other students At end of course the fake students who most people in class liked was student who attended class most
Milgram (1970)
Study that stated that cities have large number of people, high density population and Heterogeneity of population.
The fear of living In large cities among strangers were eased by seeing the same faces as they passed to work
What is mere exposure effect?
The observation that repeated exposure to a new stimulus results in increasingly positive evaluation of stimulus
Zajonc 2001
American students were shown Chinese characters (letters) and tended to like the ones that were shown before
Berscheid, Graziano, Monson & Dermer 1976
People tend to see others as more likeable if they expect to interact with them
Subject was expected to date one of 3 people
Observed taped discussion among 3
Subjects liked person whom they expected to date
Rated their expected date more extremely and positively on traits and were confident on their ratings
Subject also awarded more attention to their perspective date and recalled more information about them
Subject had both directional and accuracy goal
They wanted their date to be nice so expected interactions would be pleasant
And they wanted a good idea of what date was like so they could better control and predict interaction
Similarity: rubbing our back
We like to be massaged
We like those who validate and reinforce who we are and what we believe
Burgess + Wallin (1953)
We find our spouse among those who are similar to us on many different characteristics including:
Race
Religion
Political persuasion
Buss (1984)
Physical attraction plays a role in determining personality traits
Newcomb (1961)
Surveyed students on a ball at Vanderbilt
All room mates were randomly assigned
Found that in general, people liked their room mate best than their next-door neighbour
Based on how similar they were
Byrne (1971)
People fill in questionnaire about own attitude on music, sport etc
They were asked to rate attractiveness of people who also filled in questionnaire
Found similarity of attitudes is very important in rating how much you like someone
What is Byrne two stage model of attraction process?
When you meet, if you are dissimilar, there is avoidance
If you are similar slightly , there is indifference
If you are very similar, there is continued contact
