Social Psychology Key Terms #10

Propinquity Effect:

The finding that the more we see and interact with people, the more likely they are to become our friends.

Mere Exposure Effect:

The finding that the more exposure we have to a stimulus, the more apt we are to like it.

Halo Effect:

A cognitive bias by which we tend to assume that an individual with one positive characteristic also possesses other (even unrelated) positive characteristics.

Companionate Love:

The feelings of intimacy and affection we have for someone that are not accompanied by passion or physiological arousal.

Passionate Love:

An intense longing we feel for a person, accompanied by physiological arousal.

Attachment Styles:

The expectations people develop about relationships with others based on the relationship they had with their primary caregiver when they were infants.

Secure Attachment Style:

An attachment style characterized by trust, a lack of concern with being abandoned, and the view that one is worthy and well liked.

Avoidant Attachment Style:

An attachment style characterized by difficulty developing intimate relationships

because previous attempts to be intimate have been rebuffed.

Anxious/Ambivalent Attachment Style

An attachment style characterized by a concern that others will not reciprocate

one’s desire for intimacy, resulting in higher-than-average levels of anxiety.

Social Exchange Theory:

The idea that people’s feelings about a relationship depend on their perceptions of its rewards and costs, the kind of relationship they deserve, and their chances for having a better relationship with someone else.

Comparison Level:

People’s expectations about the level of rewards and costs they are likely to receive in a particular relationship.

Comparison Level for Alternatives:

People’s expectations about the level of rewards and costs they would receive in an alternative relationship.

Investment Model:

The theory that people’s commitment to a relationship depends not only on their satisfaction with the relationship, but also on how much they have invested in the relationship that would be lost by ending it.

Equity Theory:

The idea that people are happiest with relationships in which the rewards and costs experienced by both parties are roughly equal.

Exchange Relationships:

Relationships governed by the need for equity (i.e., for an equal ratio of rewards and costs).

Communal Relationships:

Relationships in which people’s primary concern is being responsive to the other person’s needs.