Myers 43.1 & 43.2: Attraction=

43.1: Psychology of Attraction

Question: The Psychology of Attraction includes what 4 elements?

By looking at:

  • Proximity

  • Modern Matchmaking

  • Physical attractiveness

  • Similarity

Question: What role does proximity play in the formation of friendships and romantic relationships? What effect is at play here?

Proximity, or geographic nearness

  • powerful predictor of friendship and romantic relationships.

  • People who live close to each other (work in the same office, share the same spaces) are more likely to form bonds.

  • opportunities for interaction — can lead to liking and even marriage.

  • Facilitates the initial stages of relationship formation by increasing familiarity and exposure to potential partners.

The mere exposure effect

  • Mere exposure effect: the tendency for repeated exposure to novel stimuli to increase our liking of them, plays a significant role in this.

  • Repeated exposure to individuals, even in the absence of direct interaction, can increase fondness.

Familiarity breeds liking due to what evolutionary tendency?

  • We have this evolutionary tendency to bond with those who look familiar and to be wary of the unfamiliar.

  • This tendency may have provided survival value for our ancestors.

Question: How has modern matchmaking, including online dating and speed dating, affected the formation of romantic relationships?

Modern Matchmaking Benefit

  • Modern matchmaking has significantly expanded the pool of potential mates and changed the dynamics of relationship formation.

  • Online dating platforms offer access to a wide range of potential partners, especially for individuals who may not have found romantic prospects in their immediate proximity.

What are the benefits of Online Relationships?, What are the Risks?

  • Studies suggest that relationships initiated online are slightly more likely to last and be satisfying compared to those formed in person.

  • Online communication allows for increased disclosure and often feels as real and important as in-person interactions.

  • Has risks such as receiving unwanted messages

  • Speed dating accelerates the process of meeting potential partners, allowing individuals to interact briefly with multiple prospects in a short amount of time. Despite its efficiency, compatibility remains difficult to predict in speed dating scenarios.

Question: How does physical attractiveness influence initial impressions and the formation of relationships?

Physical attractiveness is the primary factor for what?

  • Physical appearance is the primary factor influencing first impressions, often trumping personality traits or other characteristics.

  • attractiveness is subjective and influenced by cultural standards

  • unrelated to self-esteem and happiness.

How attractive people are perceived

  • People tend to prefer good-looking individuals as romantic partners.

  • Attractiveness predicts how often people date and their perceived popularity.

  • Perceived as healthier, happier, more successful, and socially skilled.

Is Physical attractiveness still important in long-term relationships?

  • Long-term relationships tend to prioritize shared values and interests over physical appearance.

Question: What role does similarity play in the formation and maintenance of friendships and romantic relationships?

Research indicates that individuals are more likely to befriend or partner with those who what?

  • share similar attitudes, beliefs, interests, demographics, and behaviors.

  • Friends and couples often exhibit similarities in age, religion, race, education, intelligence, smoking behavior, and economic status.

  • The more alike individuals are, the more enduring their liking tends to be — contributes to relationship satisfaction and longevity.

  • similarity breeds content and plays a vital role in relationship compatibility.

43.2: Romantic Love

How does romantic love typically change as time passes?

  • people move from initial impressions to more intense, complex

  • If love endures, temporary passionate love will mellow into a lingering companionate love

  • Passion will fade away with time (hence why its not good to start a relationship just based on passion)

Question 1: What are the characteristics of passionate love and how does it change over time? What Theory helps explain this?

Passionate love is characterized by:

  • intense desire to be with a partner

  • stimulated by seeing them, which activates brain regions linked to craving and obsession, lust.

Two-factor theory of emotion

  • This intense positive absorption is explained by the two-factor theory of emotion, which states that emotions result from physical arousal and cognitive appraisal.

  • Physical arousal + Cognitive appraisal (interpretation/label) = Passion emotion

  • heightened arousal, even from unrelated sources, can enhance feelings of passionate love when associated with a desirable person. (may be interpreted as passion in the presence of a desirable person)

Emotions are not solely dependent on physiological responses, such as increased heart rate or sweating, but also on how individuals interpret and label these physiological changes. (do they find you desirable or not)

How it Changes over time

  • Over time, passionate love typically transitions into companionate love, which is a deep, affectionate attachment.

  • This shift is accompanied by a decrease in the flood of passion-facilitating hormones (testosterone, dopamine, adrenaline) and the kept presence of oxytocin, fostering feelings of trust, calmness, and bonding with the mate.

Question 2: How does equity contribute to enduring companionate love in relationships?

What is crucial for sustaining companionate love?

  • Equity, or the balance between what each partner gives and receives in a relationship, is crucial

  • When equity exists, the chances for enduring and satisfying love are high.

What are ways we can do this?

  • Research indicates that sharing household choresranks high in factors associated with successful marriages, emphasizing the importance of equity beyond romantic relationships.

  • Mutually sharing oneself and possessions, making decisions together, and giving and receiving emotional support are key components of equity.

  • This principle extends to various types of relationships, including friendships and parent-child relationships.

Question 3: What role does self-disclosure play in fostering intimacy and enduring love?

Self-disclosure’s Role

Revealing intimate details about oneself

  • as individuals disclose personal information, it leads to increased liking and intimacy between partners.

  • The reciprocal nature of self-disclosure encourages deeper levels of intimacy as individuals reveal more about themselves.

  • Experiments have demonstrated that engaging in escalating levels of self-disclosure can significantly increase feelings of closeness and love between partners.

  • This process is essential for building and maintaining enduring companionate love.

Question 4: How does positive support contribute to the longevity of relationships?

Positive support role

= characterized by expressions of compliments, touches, and laughter, is essential for the longevity of relationships.

  • Research indicates that happy couples in enduring relationships exhibit a higher ratio of positive interactions to negative interactions.

  • Positive support counteracts hurtful communication and conflicts within relationships.

  • Negative interactions such as criticisms and insults are routine, whereas for happy couples, positive interactions significantly outnumber negative ones.

What is the role of Mathematics in Enduring Love

  • The mathematics of enduring love involves self-disclosing intimacy combined with mutually supportive equity.

Chapter 43 Practice Questions

RP-1 People tend to marry someone who lives or works nearby. This is an example of the ______ in action.

  • RP-1 mere exposure effect.

RP-2 How does being physically attractive influence others’ perceptions?

  • Being physically attractive tends to elicit positive first impressions. People tend to assume that attractive people are healthier, happier, more sensitive, more successful, and more socially skilled than others are.

RP-3 How does the two-factor theory of emotion help explain passionate love?

  • Emotions consist of (1) physical arousal and (2) our interpretation of that arousal.

  • Researchers have found that any source of arousal may be interpreted as passion in the presence of a desirable person.

RP-4 Two vital components for maintaining companionate love are what?

  • equity

  • self-disclosure.