General knowledge

what are the factors affecting attraction in romantic relationships

self-disclosure, physical attractiveness, filter theory

why are people attracted to facial symmetry

evolutionary theory related to sexual selection, people with symmetrical faces are rated as more attractive because it may be an honest signal of genetic fitness (hard to fake facial symmetry)

what are the two main features people are physically attracted to

facial symmetry, neotenous features (baby-face)

why are people attracted to neotenous features

they trigger a protective or caring instinct

examples of neotenous features

widely separated large eyes, delicate chin, small nose, evolutionary adaptation in women to induce protective behaviour from men, young looking women could be perceived as more fertile

what is the effect used to explain physical attractiveness as a factor affecting attraction

halo effect

what does the halo effect suggest

physical attractiveness may matter as we have preconceived ideas about the personality traits of attractive people e.g. kind, strong, sociable, successful, this makes them even more attractive to us so we behave positively to them- self-fulfilling prophecy

what is the matching hypothesis in the importance of physical attractiveness

suggests we look for partners that are similar to ourselves in terms of physical attractiveness instead of choosing the most appealing people

who did a study on the matching hypothesis

Walster et al.

what was the procedure that Walster et al did for the matching hypothesis

male and female students invited to a dance, they were rated for physical attractiveness by objective observers at the start and also completed a questionnaire about themselves, they were told the data about themselves was used by a computer to decide their partner for the evening- it was random

what were the findings from Walster et al.’s study on the matching hypothesis

hypothesis was not supported, the most liked partners were also most physically attractive rather than taking their own level of attractiveness into account, however Berscheid et al. replicated the study but the participants could select their partner from people of varying degrees of attractiveness, this time participants chose partners who matched their physical attractiveness

this shows we tend to seek and choose partners whose attractiveness matches our own, choice of a partner is a compromise of someone you find attractiveness but is less likely to reject you

what are the aspects of self-disclosure

social penetration theory, breadth and depth of self-disclosure, reciprocity of self disclosure

what is the general idea of self-disclosure

revealing ourselves to another person to help understand each other better

what is social penetration theory in self-disclosure

gradually revealing more personal and deep information to your partner by giving away your deepest thoughts and feelings

what does it mean when self-disclosure should be reciprocal

when one person discloses something personal, the other should do the same an reciprocate this to show trust and increase intimacy

why does self-disclosure make people attracted to each other

you understand the other person better, and feel prioritised and trusted by themm

what does breadth mean when talking about self-disclosure

initially you disclose a variety of information but nothing too personal

what does depth mean when talking about self-disclosure

as a relationship develops self-disclosure becomes deeper and people reveal more about their true selves, including topics that are important or sensitive to them, or high risk topics e.g. strongly held beliefs

what emotion is needed in self-disclosure

empathy- requires a judgement free environment where people feel comfortable to talk about sensitive, personal topics, other person must be empathetic and allow comfortable and secure environment, this encourages self-disclosure and strengthens the bond

what happens if self-disclosure isn’t reciprocated

can make the other person feel less valued or judged, not want to disclose personal information again, therefore they are unattracted and relationship wouldn’t form