Attraction and Love Lecture Review

Flashcards covering key vocabulary related to chapters on attraction and love, including definitions of love types, factors of attraction, relevant studies, and theories on mate selection and sex differences.

Companionate Love

A type of love characterized by intimacy and commitment, often developing over time.

Attraction

The action or power of evoking interest, pleasure, or liking for someone or something.

Direct Rewards (in attraction)

Obvious inducements such as beauty, wealth, or a pleasing personality that others provide.

Indirect Rewards (in attraction)

Subtle benefits associated with a person, such as social connections, or self-esteem boosts, that make them attractive.

Physical Attractiveness

The degree to which a person's physical features are considered aesthetically pleasing or beautiful.

Computer Dance Study (Walster et al., 1966)

A study that paired college students randomly as dates for a dance and found that physical attractiveness was the primary predictor of initial attraction.

Innate Instinct (attraction theory)

A theory suggesting that preferring attractive partners is an evolved instinct, an indicator of genetic fitness.

Genetic Fitness

The capacity to pass on genes to successive generations, often inferred from indicators like health or fertility.

Ease of Processing (in attractiveness)

The concept that faces or figures that are easier for our brains to process (e.g., averaged or symmetrical) are often perceived as more attractive.

Physical Attractiveness Stereotype ("What is beautiful is good")

The widespread belief that attractive people possess desirable personality traits, such as being smarter, funnier, and more likable.

Behavioral Confirmation

A process by which a person's expectations about someone else lead to that someone else behaving in ways that confirm the original expectations.

The Matching Hypothesis

The theory that people tend to form romantic relationships with others whose mate value, typically based on physical attractiveness, is similar to their own.

Mate Value

An individual's overall attractiveness as a reproductive partner, encompassing qualities like physical appearance, personality, and resources.

Time Matters in Attractiveness

The concept that perceptions of mate value can change as individuals spend more time together, reducing the initial importance of physical attractiveness matching.

Beauty for Status Trade

A theoretical exchange in partner selection where one partner's physical attractiveness is 'traded' for the other partner's social status or resources.

Evolutionary Pressures (Buss, 1991)

A theory by Buss suggesting that sex differences in attraction are driven by differing needs for reproductive success and survival.

Cultural Standards (in attraction)

Societal norms and expectations that influence preferences and roles in romantic relationships, potentially contributing to sex differences in attraction.