Lecture: Attraction, Love, Attraction 2 Flashcards
Why is Flirting useful?
Low investment and deniable “testing the waters”
Do men misinterpret friendly females behaviour?
Numerous studies show that men over-perceive female friends’ sexual interest in them.
**No studies have explored why men may misperceive their opposite-sex friends’ sexual interest in them
Have studies been done on whether women under perceive males sexual interest in them?
No studies have explored whether women underperceive male friends’ sexual interest in them.
Misperception of Sexual Interest: University men and women were asked: Have you ever been friendly to someone of the opposite sex only to discover that she/he had misperceived your friendliness as a sexual come on? You were just trying to be nice but they assumed you were sexually attracted to them”
- 72% of women said “yes”
- 60% of men said “yes”
- Mostly causal friends
- Mostly at parties
- **So misperception of sexual interest is common.
- Men are more likely to misperceive women’s friendliness as sexual interest.
Men over perceive a women’s sexual interest, why?
Because of their own interest in that woman.
Reactions to Misperception of Sexual Interest: Anger
Women more likely than men to report anger (32% vs 8%)
Reactions to Misperception of Sexual Interest: feeling guilty
Women more likely than men to report feeling guilty (25% vs 16%)
Reactions to Misperception of Sexual Interest: Feeling Used
Women more likely than men to report feeling used (8% vs 2%)
Reactions to Misperception of Sexual Interest: Feel happy
Men more likely than women to feel happy (18% vs 12%)
Do Men Over-perceive and Women Under perceive Opposite Sex Others’ Sexual Interest—And Why?
- In opposite sex pairs, friends rated their sexual interest in their friend and their perceptions of their friend’s sexual interest in them
- Men over-perceived and women under perceived opposite sex friend’s sexual interest
- Men’s and women’s estimates of their opposite sex friend’s sexual interest in them was based on their own sexual interest in their opposite sex friend
- *This can lead to sexual harrassment
Proceptivity and Rejection
“It is widely believed that men are the initiators in sexual encounters and that women are sexually reluctant, hesitant, or coy. Men, it is believed, initiate sexual encounters both formally, by asking the woman for a date, and informally, by pressing her for sexual intimacy. According to this view, the woman restrains the man’s sexual ardor as part of her sexual gatekeeper function. However, evidence from animal research requires that we rethink the woman’s role in sexual encounters. Proceptivity—behaviors performed by a female to solicit the male sexually—is extremely common in female mammals. A contradiction seems to exist between the belief that women are sexually reluctant and recent research evidence that women can be highly proceptive.”
Proceptivity
Behaviours performed by a female to solicit the male sexually.
US and Canadian College Women Wrote Essays on Proception and Rejection:
Environmental Proception
- Dress seductively
- Offer a drink
- Invite to private place
- Romantic atmosphere
- Music
US and Canadian College Women Wrote Essays on Proception and Rejection:
Verbal proception
- Sexy talk
- Romantic talk
- Compliments
- Laugh
- Direct ask
US and Canadian College Women Wrote Essays on Proception and Rejection:
Nonverbal proception
- Eye contact
- Move closer
- Touch
- Kiss
US and Canadian College Women Wrote Essays on Proception and Rejection: Strategic plans
- Woman starts… then man responds….
- Woman starts… then man takes over
- Unresponsive male: “if - then” strategies
- If no response continue:
“I have warm feelings for you” - Implement gentle nonverbal action
- If no response, then stop
- If no response, then hope
**Evaluate each step, proceed with caution
US and Canadian College Women Wrote Essays on Proception and Rejection: Rejection
- Avoid proceptive behaviours (touch, dress, situation)
- Actively avoid proception
- Ignore male’s signals
- Diversions and distractions
- Excuses
- Direct “no”
- Physical rejection
Jealousy and Natural Selection: What is jealousy?
“Jealousy is the negative emotional experience that results from the potential loss of valued relationships to real or imagined rivals.”
Men who were sensitive to SEXUAL infidelity and paternity uncertainty would have been favoured by natural selection, why?
- They would avoid provisioning genetically unrelated offspring
- Men should be most troubled by female sexual infidelity.
Women who were sensitive to EMOTIONAL infidelity would have been favoured by natural selection, why?
- Vigilance about resource withdrawal would have been favoured by natural selection
- Women should be most troubled by male emotional infidelity
“Please think of a serious committed romantic relationship that you have had in the past, that you currently have, or that you would like to have. Imagine that you discover the person with whom you’ve been seriously involved became interested in someone else. What would upset you more?
- -Imagining your partner forming a deep emotional (but not sexual) relationship with that person. [Should threaten women more]
- -Imaging your partner enjoying a sexual (but not emotional) relationship with that person. [Should threaten men more]
- Men were 61 % more upset if a partner enjoyed a sexual but (not emotional) relationships. (3x to 4x more upset) women were 14%
- Women were 86% more upset if a partner enjoyed an emotional (but not sexual) relationship with an opposite sex. (3x more) - men were 39%
** could be that we are socialized this way.
Mate Poaching
“We define human mate poaching as behavior intended to attract someone who is already in a romantic relationship. The fundamental assumption is that those in the past whose romantic desires led them to succeed at poaching out-produced those that failed poaching.”
Mate poaching in men and women?
- Way for men to make a cheap investment in additional reproduction.
- Way for women to improve genetic fitness of offspring (“trade up.”)
- “Partner insurance” for both men and women.
- Poaching is common and often successful
Is mate poaching common?
Yes
- More than half men have tried to poach someone
- Almost everyone feels that someone has trues.
- Most subjects have been successfully poached.
Mate Guarding Behaviours: who would natural selection favour?
Natural selection would favor males and females who guarded their mates from rivals so as to reduce paternity uncertainty and resource withdrawal.
Sex Differences in Mate Guarding Behaviours: MEN
- Men’s use of these behaviours is strongly related to youth and perceived physical attractiveness of their wives
- Men’s use of these behaviours is not related to their wives’ income or status striving behaviours
Sex Differences in Mate Guarding Behaviours: Women
- Women’s use of these behaviours is weakly related to youth and perceived physical attractiveness of their husbands.
- Women’s use of these behaviours is strongly related with their husband’s income and husband’s status striving behaviours.
Undergraduate students were surveyed to assess the prevalence of, and motivations for, hook-up behaviour, what were the results?
- 64% reported having engaged in a hook-up.
- Those who had hooked up, 51% had done so with the intention of initiating a traditional romantic relationship; there were no sex differences
Hooking up is argued as an evolved behaviour, why?
- Argued that hooking up is evolved behaviour; occurring with increasing age of mothers at first birth and greater acceptance of social sexualization of youth.
Do studies show that hooking up can result in feeling better?
Yes, young adults who reported more depressive symptoms and feelings of loneliness at Time 1, then engaged in hookups reported fewer depressive symptoms and lower feelings of loneliness at Time 2, as compared to young adults who did not hook up.
- Young adults who reported fewer depressive symptoms and were less lonely at Time 1 and engaged in hookups reported more depressive symptoms and greater feelings of loneliness at Time 2, as compared to young adults who did not hook up
Rubin’s Theory of Love:
- Affiliation and dependence
- Predisposition to help
- Exclusiveness and Absorption
Validating Rubin’s Theory of Love:
- Love and liking for a friend is always less than a partner.
- Good correlation of your score and “love
- Couples with higher love scores gaze at eachother longer.
Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love
More fully developed model of love, comprised of 3 components:
1. Intimacy: Feeling of emotional closeness and mutual understanding
Communicating personal feelings
- Offering empathy and support
2. Passion: Motivation for physical closeness and sexual expression
-Touching
-Lovemaking
3. Commitment: Decision that one is in love and commitment to maintain love for the long term
-“I love you”
Different types of love? (7)
- Consummate : Intimacy and passion and commitment.
- Companionate :Intimacy and commitment.
- Romantic: Intimacy and passion
- Fatuous: Passion and commitment
- Infatuation: passion
Liking: - Intimacy: Empty
commitment
Testing Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love:
Adults in heterosexual relationships completed his love scale and relationship satisfaction surveys.
Sternberg’s triangular theory of love valid?
- Intimacy scale scores correlate with intimate behaviour
- Passion scale scores correlate with passionate behaviour
- Commitment scores correlate with committed behaviour
- Intimacy, passion,and commitment scales correlated with parallel measures of these constructs
Consummate love
Intimacy and passion and commitment
Companionate
Intimacy and commitment
Romantic
Intimacy and passion
Fatuous
Passion and commitment
Infatuation
Passion
Liking
intimacy
Empty
commitment
Testing Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love:
Is Sternberg’s triangular theory of love valid?
- Intimacy scale scores correlate with intimate behaviour
- Passion scale scores correlate with passionate behaviour
- Commitment scores correlate with committed behaviour
- Intimacy, passion,and commitment scales correlated with parallel measures of these constructs
Testing Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love: Is his theory empirically supported?
- Intimacy, passion, and commitment scores are correlated with one another
^^ above scores are also related with relationship satisfaction - Discrepancies are negatively correlated with relationship satisfaction
- Stage of relationship (not length) is associated with increased intimacy and commitment and similar passion for men but less passion for women
How do intimate, passion, and commitment In romantic couples work together?
The more you have the more you are committed.