Love and Relationships

Question 1

three factors for love

Answer 1

intimacy, passion, commitment

Question 2

being in a close relationship –> better health, longer life, etc.

Answer 2

• general statistics
• doesn’t mean all relationships have these positive aspects

Question 3

elements of being in a relationship

Answer 3

• giving and receiving affection (touch; reduce stress)
• provides people with support; sharing the workload of managing life
• have someone present to help you deal with bad stuff and give you support

Question 4

The smell of a romantic partner: Effect on stress (Female)

Answer 4

• participate in Trier Social Stress Test
• spend time smelling a t-shirt before and after
  (romantic partner, stranger, never worn)
• stress levels measured at various times before and after

Question 5

Trier Social Stress Test

Answer 5

• require participants to make interview-style presentation, then surprise mental arithmetic test
• in front of interview panel who do not give feedback or encouragement

Question 6

Study Results:

Answer 6

• participants who smelled the t-shirt of their romantic partner, they experienced less anticipatory stress before, and their stress levels went down more quickly after

Question 7

The smell of a romantic partner: Effect on sleep (Male and Female)

Answer 7

• 4 nights, sleep alone in a bed, using a t-shirt as a pillow cover
  (2 nights: romantic partner t-shirt)
  (other 2: control t-shirt)
• sleep efficiency measured by actigraphy wristwatch

Question 8

Study Results:

Answer 8

• For men, they did not have significant differences between the control t-shirt and partner t-shirt
• For women, they slept better on days where they slept with partner t-shirt

Question 9

Romantic Attraction: Passion

Answer 9

• how do we find someone attractive?
• context matters!
• contrast effect
• the colour red
• misattribution of arousal

Question 10

Contrast effect

Answer 10

• when attractive person is surrounded by even more attractive people, they will be seen as less attracted by comparison
• after looking at photographs of highly attractive women, men rate their own female romantic partners less favourably

Question 11

The colour red

Answer 11

• people (typically women) who wear or use red colour are perceived to be more attractive

Question 12

The colour red: Does this effect replicate in other cultures?

Answer 12

• yes, in Burkina Faso
• men given pictures of women in different coloured backgrounds
• red background = more attractive

Question 13

does red make men more attracted too?

Answer 13

maybe (evidence is kinda mixed)

Question 14

does red affect positive judgments more generally?

Answer 14

no (no effect on likeability, etc.)

Question 15

why does red have this effect on judgments of attractiveness?

Answer 15

• some evidence that women in red are perceived to be more receptive to romance
• some evidence that men in red are perceived to have higher social status

Question 16

are people aware of this effect on their pwn judgments?

Answer 16

apparently not

Question 17

Misattribution of Arousal

Answer 17

Arousing (stressful) event or activity –> physiological arousal + encounter attractive person –> misattribute existing arousal to attractive person –> increased romantic attraction

Question 18

Scary bridge Experiment

Answer 18

• men approached after crossing scary or boring bridge
• controlled the gender of the experimenter
• then, presented ambiguous image for them to explain in their own interpretation –> if the guy was sexually attracted to the experimenter, he may make up a sexual story
• then, gave particiapnts their number to “give them the results of the experiment”

Question 19

Experiment results

Answer 19

• men had higher levels of sexual content in their description when the interviewer was female AND after crossing a scary bridge
• men also called the experimenter more if they were female AND if they crossed the scary bridge