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Social Attraction

Attraction
Levels of analysis:

Intrapersonal: explaining and studying what goes on between the individuals


Interpersonal: explaining and researching what goes on within the individual
Intragroup: explaining and researching what goes on within the group
Intergroup: explaining and researching what goes on between group

The need to affiliate:

We need contact with others


Attachment is important in human development
The presence of others reduces anxiety
Impact of isolation is really bad; used as punishment and important in
brainwashing/torture.
Prolonged isolation results in the hallucinations of others (after about 20 days)

Interpersonal attraction operates at three levels:

Cognitively: we think certain things about the other person


Affectively: we experience particular feelings toward him or her
Behaviourally: we act in certain ways toward the person

The social side of physical attractiveness:

Jones et al (2007) asked people to rate the attractiveness of male faces


In one condition the pictures showed a female face staring at the target face, this
female was either smiling or neutral.
When the woman was smiling, female participants rated the man as more attractive-
Attractiveness as a shared evaluation?
Male participants rated the face as less attractive when a woman was smiling at him-
Jealousy?

Who are we attracted to?

The physically attractive


But what dictates who is and who isnt considered to be physically attractive?
Personal taste? Culture/fashion? Evolution?

Attraction
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Social Attraction

Individual Differences:

Attachment style: For those with insecure attachment styles, positive feedback led
to greater attraction. Negative feedback had a stronger effect of females than males
Self-esteem: Dittes (1959) observed that those with low self-esteem were more
strongly effected by both positive and negative feedback
Those who need the ego boost?

Physical Attraction:

American males tend to be attracted to females who look cute, they have facial
characteristics associated with youth (Cunningham, 1986)
Striking? Actually, the more average/less distinctive you are the more attractive you
will be perceived to be

Contrasting theories:

Evolution theory: Mate selection based on indicators of good genes and


complimentary immune systems
Socialisation theory: Beauty reflects social and cultural norms as well as prior
experiences
Social expectancy theory: Social stereotypes create their own reality

The Universality of Attraction:

People within and across different cultures tend to agree who is and is not
considered to be attractive
Reproductive fitness- symmetrical faces, women about to ovulate prefer the smell of
symmetrical men
The attractiveness of women, as measured by their waist to hip ratio (WHR). In
western societies, preference of males for women with smaller WHR. In foraging
societies, (where food is scarce), preference is for bigger WHR. In both cases the
preferences reflect signs of good health (Singh, 1993)

Physical attraction correlates with:


Feminisation of facial features- Being slimmer
including male faces Being judged as more honest
Being youthful Earning more money

Attraction
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Social Attraction

The Halo Effect:

When we see someone as having a positive attribute we have a tendency to assume


they hold other positive attributes.
Particularly true of physical attractiveness- we assume the physically attractive are
positive in other ways, have more talent etc.

Attractive people were:

Judged as less maladjusted and disturbed


Judged as more likely to be hired after a job interview
Rated as happier, more successful, having a better personality and more likely to get
married
Given an easier time by jurors if the defendant was female
Given better grades

Landy and Sigal experiment:

Essays were submitted to teachers with a photo of the author attached, these
pictures either depicted an attractive or an unattractive female
A control condition was included with no photo, so as to attain a baseline measure
The essays were either of high or poor quality
Good essay: the pretty girls essay was seen as slightly better than control, but the
ugly girls essay was seen as much worse
Bad essay: the pretty girls essay was seen as much better than control, and the ugly
girls essay was seen as a lot worse

Self-Disclosure:

We tend to initially like people who disclose personal information to us and we tend
to disclose more to people whom we initially like

Similarity:

Newcomb (1961) offered free accommodation for students in halls if they


participated in his study. Explored attitudes, values, friendships etc.
Regarding attraction between students, in the first few weeks, proximity was
particularly important but as semester progressed, similarity in attitudes became
more important.

Attraction
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Social Attraction

Its the law of attraction, there's a linear relationship between attraction and
similarity of attitudes (Byrne, 1971)
Its more than just shared attitudes, it is about agreement between people. We like
consistency (cognitive dissonance theory) (Clore, 1976)
Note: If we find out someone were going out with likes the same obscure band as we
do, attraction increases
Effect of similarity is true across different cultures (Brewer 1968)

Proximity:

Festinger, Schacter and Back (1950)


Classic study on a housing complex, showed people tended to have more friends who
lived on the same floor. If they did have friends on a different floor, this was more
likely if they lived close to the stairs.
Proximity involves 3 crucial factors:

Familiarity: Availability: Expectation


We feel more Even if familiar, you still
of continued
comfortable with familiar need to be available; e.g.: interaction:
things, and this extends losing touch with friends
to people who move away It is for this reason that
we feel uncomfortable if
Faces of strangers are Difficulties with long we do not get on with our
liked more the more they distance (romantic) neighbours, according to
are seen relationships Heider (1958)

Students prefer tutors Study in 1976 showed


they see on a regular students video tapes of
basis other students. They
reported liking them
more if they were led to
believe they would
actually go out with this
person than if they
expected no further
action

Attraction
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Social Attraction

Situational Factors:

Compliments from strangers mean more than compliments from friends


The gain-loss hypothesis (Aronson and Linder, 1965): we prefer those who initially
dislike us then grow to like us, (anxiety reduction). We dislike most those who initially
like us then dislike us
Runs counter to reinforcement models
We like people when we experience rewards while in their presence
A shared humorous experience seems to be a powerful way of forging closeness with
a stranger

Reciprocity:

We like those who like us and dislike those who dont


Dittes and Kelly (1956) provided participants with false feedback about other
members of the group following a group discussion
Those who were told the others liked them expressed a greater attraction to the
group than those who were led to believe they were disliked.
Important for interpersonal attraction too

Matching:

We are more likely to be attracted to those who are evenly matched with us in terms
of physical appearance, social background, personality, sociability, interests and
leisure activities (Sprecher, 1998)
Married couples tend to be similarly matched, and they become more similar over
time in terms of attitudes and mental abilities
Is playing hard to get a good idea?

Walster, Walster, Piliavin and Schmidt (1973):


Experiment 1

Male students recruited, asked to phone prospective date. She was either delighted
to be asked, or reluctant to go, giving the impression she had lots of other options
It made no difference to how much the blokes liked the confederate, (uniformly high
ratings)

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Social Attraction

Experiment 2

Prostitute either welcoming to all clients or gave the impression she was more
selective
Measured prostitutes estimation of how much they seemed to like her, how much
they paid her, and how soon they came back for another visit
Again, no difference

New hypothesis:

Maybe, its when the woman seems easy for the participant to get, but hard for
others to get
Computer dating study, biographies included. Manipulated how highly they rated the
participant and 5 other men
Results supported the new hypothesis

Attraction and the internet:

Similarity; likely to meet on shared interest sites


Self-disclosure and reciprocity: Self disclosure important for trust and easier online,
thus relationship feels more intimate
Idealisation; Tendency to idealise people on-line, leads to greater liking but linked to
instability (McKenna et al 2002)
Self-presentation
Walter (1996), internet allows min of weaknesses and max of strengths when
presenting self
Freer to be true self (McKenna et al 2002)

Attraction

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