Social Affiliation & Attraction

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts related to theories of social affiliation, attraction, and the importance of social relationships for health and well-being.

The Need to Belong

A fundamental need to form and maintain a minimum quantity of lasting, positive, and significant interpersonal relationships.

Evolutionary Perspective on Social Needs

Early humans lived in small groups surrounded by a difficult environment, making it adaptive to be social and caring for survival and reproduction.

Key Aspects of the Need to Belong

Relationships are easy to form, difficult to break, and essential for well-being; the need for them can be satiated and is universal.

Formation and Breaking of Social Bonds

Social bonds are easily formed from infancy, and ending relationships can be difficult.

Consequences of Lacking Relationships

Rejection can cause pain and reduce well-being and intellectual functioning, while a lack of social network can predict illness and mortality.

Importance of Satisfying Social Connections

The need to feel socially connected is crucial, especially through highly satisfying relationships.

Satiation of the Need to Belong

We have a limited number of friends, and time spent with friends may decrease in romantic relationships, highlighting the need for a sufficient number of relationships.

Universality of the Need to Belong

The need for close relationships is universal, with evidence suggesting it's a basic need across cultures.

The Quality of Relationships

Relationship quality significantly promotes surviving and thriving, demonstrated by greater life satisfaction from pleasant daily social interactions.

Benefits of Weak Ties

Engaging with and being kind to others, even in weak ties, benefits well-being and contributes to a sense of belonging.

Why Weak Ties Matter

Positive interactions help us recognize the value of others and feel connected, with others typically responding positively.

Relational Diversity

The richness and evenness of relationship types across one’s social interactions, capturing both the number of different relationship types and how evenly interactions are distributed among types.

Impact of Relational Diversity on Well-being

Relational diversity replicates the benefits of the amount of interactions and provides additional benefits to health and well-being.

Attraction

Evaluating another person positively, often attracted to people whose presence is rewarding.

Reciprocity in Attraction

We like people who like us, especially when the liking is specific and not just general.

Similarity in Attraction

We tend to like people who are similar to us, especially in backgrounds, interests, attitudes, and values.

Perceived vs Actual Similarity

Perceived similarity makes people like each other more than actual similarity, and it increases as relationships progress.

Familiarity (Proximity) in Attraction

People are more likely to become friends or romantic partners with those they see and interact with the most.

How Familiarity Works

Increased opportunity to meet people who live close by, and a tendency to like things more after repeated exposure leads to increased familiarity