social psych: ch 11 textbook

What is the need to belong?

The fundamental human need to form and maintain close social relationships.

What three needs contribute to well-being?

A: Belonging, autonomy, and competence.

What is ostracism?

A: Being excluded or ignored by others.

Why can ostracism be especially painful?

A: It treats someone as if they do not exist or matter.

What can social rejection/ostracism cause?

A: Stress, negative emotions, reduced self-control, aggression, and antisocial or self-defeating behavior.

How can rejection affect self-control?

A: Rejected people may have more difficulty regulating their behavior and may engage in things like overeating or increased alcohol use.

How can rejection affect aggression?

A: Social rejection can increase aggressive behavior.

What is cyberostracism?

A: Being excluded or ignored online, such as on social media.

Does online rejection still hurt?

A: Yes. Even cyberostracism can produce negative emotions and feelings of exclusion.

How does social pain compare with physical pain?

A: Ostracism activates brain areas that are also involved in physical pain.

Who tends to experience exclusion more strongly?

A: Anxious people and younger adults may experience it more strongly.

Can rejection hurt even when it comes from a disliked group or a robot?

A: Yes. Ostracism can hurt regardless of who or what is doing the rejecting.

What can rejection motivate people to do socially?

A: Seek new relationships and become more attentive to accepting faces and social cues.

What is proximity?

A: Physical or geographic closeness to another person.

How does proximity affect attraction?

A: People who are physically closer are generally more likely to interact and become friends.

What is functional distance?

A: How often people's paths cross, rather than simply how physically close they live.

Why does functional distance increase friendship?

A: Frequent interaction gives people more opportunities to learn about each other and discover similarities.

What is one reason proximity increases liking?

A: Availability — nearby people provide more opportunities for interaction.

What is anticipatory liking?

A: We tend to like someone more when we expect that we will interact with them.

Why might anticipatory liking be adaptive?

A: Expecting someone to be pleasant and compatible can help create a more rewarding relationship.

What is the mere-exposure effect?

A: Repeated exposure to something tends to increase our liking for it.

What kinds of things does the mere-exposure effect apply to?

A: Faces, people, words, symbols, songs, and other stimuli.

Why does familiarity generally increase liking?

A: Familiar things tend to feel safer, more comfortable, and more positive.

Can the mere-exposure effect happen without conscious awareness?

A: Yes. People can prefer something they've previously encountered even if they don't remember seeing it.

Can there be too much exposure?

A: Yes. If exposure becomes excessive or constant, liking can eventually decrease.

What did Zajonc argue about emotion and thinking?

A: Emotions can occur before conscious thinking — "affect may precede cognition."

What is a possible negative side of the mere-exposure effect?

A: Familiarity can increase preference for familiar groups and contribute to wariness or bias toward unfamiliar groups.

What is implicit egotism?

A: The unconscious tendency to like things we associate with ourselves.

What is an example of implicit egotism?

A: Preferring letters in your own name or people and things that remind you of yourself.

Is implicit egotism strongly proven to determine major life choices?

A: Not necessarily. Its effects on major decisions like careers and where people live are small or have alternative explanations.

Does physical attractiveness influence dating?

A: Yes. Physical attractiveness can influence initial attraction and dating interest.

In the classic Hatfield study, what best predicted whether students liked their randomly assigned dates?

A: Physical attractiveness.

What did speed-dating research find about attractiveness?

A: Attractiveness was similarly important to both men and women when actually choosing dates, despite men predicting they would care more.

When is physical attractiveness especially influential?

A: During first impressions and early dating.

What happens to the importance of attractiveness as people get to know each other?

A: People tend to focus more on unique qualities and less on physical attractiveness.

Can people become attracted to someone they initially were not attracted to?

A: Yes. Attraction can develop over time as people get to know each other.

What is the matching phenomenon?

A: The tendency for people to choose romantic partners who are similar to themselves in physical attractiveness.

Besides attractiveness, what other qualities do people tend to match on?

A: Intelligence, popularity, and self-worth.

Why do people tend to approach others who match their attractiveness?

A: They want a desirable partner but also consider their own desirability and likelihood of being accepted.

What is asset matching?

A: When differences in attractiveness are balanced by other desirable qualities, such as status, wealth, youth, or other traits.

What is the physical-attractiveness stereotype?

A: The belief that “what is beautiful is good” — attractive people are assumed to have other desirable qualities.

What traits are commonly assumed about attractive people?

A: They are often perceived as happier, more outgoing, intelligent, successful, kind, and socially skilled.

Does the physical-attractiveness stereotype affect children?

A: Yes. Attractive children may be perceived as more intelligent, successful, and socially competent.

Is the “beautiful is good” stereotype actually accurate?

A: Mostly no. Attractive people generally do not differ much in basic personality traits, although they may sometimes be more socially confident or polished.

Why might attractive people become more socially confident?

A: They are often treated more positively, which can create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

When does physical attractiveness have its strongest influence?

A: During first impressions, especially when judgments are made quickly.

How quickly can people judge attractiveness?

A: Extremely quickly — even very brief exposure to a face can produce an attractiveness judgment.

Can attractiveness influence outcomes outside dating?

A: Yes. It can influence job interviews, evaluations, social interactions, and other first impressions.

Are standards of attractiveness completely universal?

A: No. Beauty standards vary across cultures and time, although there is some agreement across cultures.

What is averageness in attraction?

A: Composite/average-looking faces tend to be rated as more attractive than many individual faces.

Why might average faces be attractive?

A: They resemble a typical, familiar face and are easy for the brain to process.

What facial characteristic besides averageness is associated with attractiveness?

A: Symmetry.

According to evolutionary psychology, what does beauty signal?

A: Potential biological information about health, youth, and fertility.

According to evolutionary psychology, what have men historically tended to value in potential mates?

A: Traits associated with youth, physical attractiveness, health, and fertility.

According to evolutionary psychology, what have women historically tended to value in potential mates?

A: Traits associated with resources, status, protection, and health.

What qualities do BOTH men and women tend to value?

A: Kindness and intelligence.

How does social comparison affect attraction?

A: Our judgment of attractiveness depends partly on who we are comparing someone to.

What can happen after viewing extremely attractive people?

A: Average-looking people or even one's partner may temporarily seem less attractive by comparison.

How can social comparison affect self-perception?

A: After seeing highly attractive people, individuals may rate themselves as less attractive.

How does liking someone affect how attractive they seem?

A: The more we like someone, the more physically attractive they may appear to us.

Does attraction only work as “attractive → likable”?

A: No. It works both ways: attractive people may seem more likable, AND likable people may seem more attractive.

What does “love sees loveliness” mean?

A: The more in love someone is with their partner, the more attractive they tend to perceive that partner.

Does similarity increase attraction?

A: Yes. The more similar someone's attitudes are to ours, the more we tend to like them.

What characteristics are friends and romantic partners often similar in?

A: Attitudes, beliefs, values, personality traits, interests, and other characteristics.

What is “likeness begets liking”?

A: Similarity leads to liking.

What predicts liking better: actual similarity or perceived similarity?

A: Perceived similarity can be even more important than actual similarity.

What is behavioral similarity/mimicry?

A: Imitating another person's behavior, which can increase rapport and liking.

What is an example of mimicry increasing liking?

A: Servers who repeated customers' orders received higher tips, suggesting mimicry increased rapport.

What is the false consensus bias?

A: The tendency to assume other people share our attitudes and beliefs.

What happens when we discover someone is actually dissimilar to us?

A: Our liking for them tends to decrease.

Which tends to have a stronger effect: similarity or dissimilarity?

A: Dissimilar attitudes can decrease liking more than similar attitudes increase it.

Do opposites attract?

A: Generally, no. Research finds that similarity is more strongly associated with attraction.

Are romantic partners generally similar or different from one another?

A: Similar — and romantic partners may be even more similar to each other than friends are.

What is complementarity?

A: The idea that people are attracted to someone whose different traits or needs complement their own.

Is there strong evidence for complementarity?

A: Not generally. Some complementary traits may develop or work within relationships, but overall, similarity is more consistently associated with attraction.

What is reciprocal liking?

A: We tend to like people who like us.

What behaviors increase when someone likes another person?

A: They look at them more, sit closer, talk more, smile more, and laugh more.

How can uncertainty affect attraction?

A: Thinking someone might like you, but not being sure, can make you think about them more and increase attraction.

What does “bad is stronger than good” mean?

A: Negative information and experiences usually affect us more strongly than equally positive ones.

Why does negative information get more attention?

A: It is often less common or unexpected, so it grabs our attention more.

How can negativity affect relationships?

A: Destructive acts can harm relationships more than constructive acts strengthen them.

When does flattery increase liking?

A: When it seems sincere and has no obvious ulterior motive.

What is ingratiation?

A: Using flattery or praise as a self-serving strategy to gain someone's favor.

Why can constant approval lose its value?

A: Repeated praise can become expected and less meaningful.

What becomes increasingly important as relationships become more intimate?

A: Authenticity — being honest about yourself and your feelings.

How do people in happy relationships tend to view their partners?

A: Through “rose-colored glasses” — somewhat more positively than the partner may view themselves.

What is the reward theory of attraction?

A: We like people who reward us or whom we associate with rewarding experiences.

Why does proximity increase attraction according to reward theory?

A: Being nearby makes interaction easier and less costly in time and effort.

Why does similarity increase attraction according to reward theory?

A: People who agree with us validate our beliefs and opinions.

How can association create attraction?

A: We can develop positive feelings toward people we associate with positive/rewarding experiences.

What are the major predictors of friendship and attraction?

A: Proximity, physical attractiveness, similarity, reciprocal liking, and rewards.

What are Sternberg's three components of love?

A: Intimacy + Passion + Commitment

What is intimacy alone?

A: Liking

What is passion alone?

A: Infatuation

What is commitment alone?

A: Empty love

What is intimacy + passion?

A: Romantic love

What is intimacy + commitment?

A: Companionate love

What is passion + commitment?

A: Fatuous love

What is intimacy + passion + commitment?

A: Consummate love

What is passionate love?

A: An emotional, exciting, intense longing for union with another person.