Relationship Initiation: Fall 2025 Lecture Review

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from the 'Relationship Initiation' lecture, including mate selection theories, factors influencing attraction (proximity, similarity, reciprocity), and gender differences in attraction basis.

Process model of Mate Selection

A step-by-step framework describing how individuals choose romantic partners.

Beauty is good stereotype

The belief that physically attractive individuals possess other desirable qualities (e.g., kindness, intelligence).

Assortative mating/Matching hypothesis

The tendency for individuals to select partners who are similar to themselves, particularly in physical attractiveness.

Mate value

The overall desirability of an individual as a romantic partner, based on a combination of characteristics like resources, personality, and appearance.

Beauty for Status Trade

A concept where one partner's physical attractiveness is exchanged for another partner's social status or resources.

Evolutionary Pressures

Factors stemming from natural selection that influence human mating preferences and behaviors.

Cultural Standards

Societal norms and values that shape attraction and relationship dynamics, often influencing power imbalances in resource control.

Proximity

The physical closeness between individuals, which significantly influences the likelihood of attraction.

Mere Exposure Effect

The phenomenon where repeated exposure to a person or stimulus increases one's liking for it.

Proximity as an accentuator

The idea that proximity intensifies existing feelings; it helps attraction if the person is pleasant, but hurts if they are disagreeable.

Similarity/Homogamy

The tendency for people to be attracted to and form relationships with others who share similar characteristics, beliefs, and values.

The Winnowing Effect

The observation that as romantic relationships progress, the degree of similarity in demographic variables between partners tends to increase.

Fear of rejection

The apprehension or anxiety associated with the possibility of being socially disregarded, turned down, or excluded.

Social pain

The emotional distress experienced following actual or perceived interpersonal rejection, loss, or exclusion, often reported as more impactful than physical pain.

Reciprocity

The principle in attraction that people tend to like those who express liking for them.

Playing hard-to-get

A social strategy where an individual acts aloof or unavailable to enhance their perceived desirability.

Selectively hard-to-get

A refined strategy where an individual is generally hard-to-get for others but available and interested in a specific target, increasing their appeal.