Cognitive - Halo + Similarity attraction - Human relationships

similarity attraction model

• we are attracted to people similar to ourselves

• couples tend to be similar psychological characteristics, values, attitudes, and physical attractiveness

• can be rewarding to hear someone else validate your opinions which could boost self esteem

halo effect

• how first impression (beauty) impacts how we feel about them in other aspects

• someone who is beautiful could be assumed to be great at anything they do

markey & markey aim

• to investigate the extent to which similarity is a factor in the way people choose a partner

markey & markey method

• used questionnaires on self selected undergraduate students

• asked about psychological characteristics, values, attitudes of their ideal romantic partner

• they were then asked the same questions about themselves

markey & markey results

• the way pp described themselves was similar to how they described their ideal partner

markey & markey conclusion

• in conclusion, people are attracted to similar people to a high extent because the pp in the study all described a person similar to themselves for ideal partner

markey & markey eval

• self-report questionnaires which opens up to demand characteristics

• relatively large sample but of young adult americans

• correlational analysis so hard to find strong cause and effect

Dion aim

• to investigate the role of the halo effect when choosing a partner

Dion method

• 30 male + 30 female american uni students

• pp given 3 envelopes: photo of someone their age who was physically attractive, moderate attraction, and unattractive

• half of pp given photo of same gender and half given photo of opposite gender

• set of photos, gender received, and order in which photos were opened were all randomly allocated

• pp asked to rate person in photo on 27 personality traits, most/least likely to experience marital happiness + overall happiness, and which of low/average/high status job the person could have

Dion results

• attractive individuals were predicted to be significantly happier, more successful, and have more positive personality traits

Dion conclusion

• in conclusion, the halo effect occured as the pp thought the more attractive person would have more positive traits in their personality, job and love

Dion eval

• random allocation of conditions reduces bias + order effects

• methodology triangulation - 3 different questionnaires

• small and western sample

cultural explanations of attraction eval

• high ecological validity

• factors influencing relationship formation are impossible to isolate under natural conditions

• could be considered overly simplistic when not used in combination with bio/socio-cultural approaches