Interpersonal Attraction

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts related to interpersonal attraction, relationships, and gender differences in sexual attitudes, based on lecture notes.

Need to Belong

The inherent human desire to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships, considered essential for normal psychological functioning.

Loneliness

A feeling of being deprived of human social connections.

Proximity Principle

Physical closeness increases the likelihood of interaction and attraction.

Mere Exposure Effect

Repeated exposure to a person or stimulus enhances liking.

Reward Model of Liking

People like others whom they associate with positive stimuli and dislike those they associate with negative stimuli.

Transference

The tendency to map feelings for a known person onto someone new who resembles them.

Reciprocal Liking

Knowing that someone likes us increases our attraction to them.

Gain-Loss Theory

Liking is highest for others when they increase their positivity toward you over time.

Halo Effect

The tendency to assume that people with one positive attribute also have other positive traits.

Averageness Effect

The tendency to perceive a composite image of multiple faces as more attractive than any individual face.

Cis-Gender

Individuals who identify with the gender consistent with their assigned sex at birth.

Transgender

People who identify with a gender different from their assigned sex at birth.

Parental Investment

Time and effort that parents must invest in each child they produce.

Mating Strategies

Approaches to mating that help people reproduce successfully.

Erotic Plasticity

Women’s sexual attitudes and behaviors are more malleable and responsive to cultural and social influences than men’s.

Mate Guarding

Efforts to prevent one’s sexual partner from mating with someone else.