Post-discussion problem 8: All you need is love
A. Attraction and liking: What predicts attraction?
1. Physical appearance (a major cue to initial attraction)
- Averageness effect: As a result of evolutionary, humans prefer average faces to those with unusual or
distinctive features. Average faces seem to be more familiar and comfortable to look at. Also,
averageness signals for good health while unusual features might be a results of rare genes, which
usually associates with diseases
Read more in Hogg
- Halo effect: the tendency to assume that people who have one good trait also have other good traits.
Read more in Aronson, A Gleitman
EX: People with physical attractive also intelligent or happy or in good mental health
2. Proximity: it’s easier to form a relationship with someone living close by. There will be a lot of
interactions, which takes less time and effort to establish and maintain friendships. Proximity can also
link to familiarity
3. Familiarity: we become more familiar with a person, we feel more comfortable with them and we
like them more.
The power of familiarity results in Mere exposure effect - repeated exposure to an object results in
greater attraction to that objects
4. Similarity in personality, opinions, hobbies, experiences.
Similarity is important for long-term attraction. The reasons are:
- Implicit egotism: similarities create opportunities for positive interaction; our opinions will
constantly receive agreement from others. Our opinions are validated and confirmed by others,
which prevent conflicts and cognitive dissonance from happening
- When we like something and someone does not, we experience cognitive dissonance. You might
ask yourself: Should I follow her or should I keep my own opinion? To get rid of that dissonance,
one of the solution is to stop liking that person
- “Opposites attracts’’ is not really scientific backed up. It can happen with hook –up or fling as
people might choose someone strikingly different so that when they want to dumb that person
, they have several reasons. In long-term and serious relationships, couples share many things in
common
Read more in Aronson, Myers
5. Reciprocal Liking: someone likes you and you like them back. Human tendency to want to give
something back when something is received. This can be often seen in friends, colleagues. If a fellow
treat you nicely, you tend to treat them nice back and also favor them over the others. Of course
reality has shown that this is not applied to everyone
6. A reinforcement-affect model: we like people who are around when we experience a positive feeling
Experiment: evaluating a stranger when we feel hot and crowded
Context: 3 variables:
>heat normal or hot
>population density
> Attitude similarity
Results: rate a stranger more attractive when the stranger shares similar attitudes
Stressful background factors reduced the attractiveness of the stranger even attitudes are similar.
Read more in Hogg
7. Cultural stereotypes different cultures has different standards for attractiveness and for desirable
personalities of the partner
Read more in Hogg
B. Relationship development
1. What is love? (Aronson)
- hard to define because feelings can be difficult to measure. One attempt to define love is Triangle of
love by Sternberg
3 factors: passion (sexual attraction, intense physical arousal), commitment (maintain the
relationship), intimacy(closeness and sharing)
A. Attraction and liking: What predicts attraction?
1. Physical appearance (a major cue to initial attraction)
- Averageness effect: As a result of evolutionary, humans prefer average faces to those with unusual or
distinctive features. Average faces seem to be more familiar and comfortable to look at. Also,
averageness signals for good health while unusual features might be a results of rare genes, which
usually associates with diseases
Read more in Hogg
- Halo effect: the tendency to assume that people who have one good trait also have other good traits.
Read more in Aronson, A Gleitman
EX: People with physical attractive also intelligent or happy or in good mental health
2. Proximity: it’s easier to form a relationship with someone living close by. There will be a lot of
interactions, which takes less time and effort to establish and maintain friendships. Proximity can also
link to familiarity
3. Familiarity: we become more familiar with a person, we feel more comfortable with them and we
like them more.
The power of familiarity results in Mere exposure effect - repeated exposure to an object results in
greater attraction to that objects
4. Similarity in personality, opinions, hobbies, experiences.
Similarity is important for long-term attraction. The reasons are:
- Implicit egotism: similarities create opportunities for positive interaction; our opinions will
constantly receive agreement from others. Our opinions are validated and confirmed by others,
which prevent conflicts and cognitive dissonance from happening
- When we like something and someone does not, we experience cognitive dissonance. You might
ask yourself: Should I follow her or should I keep my own opinion? To get rid of that dissonance,
one of the solution is to stop liking that person
- “Opposites attracts’’ is not really scientific backed up. It can happen with hook –up or fling as
people might choose someone strikingly different so that when they want to dumb that person
, they have several reasons. In long-term and serious relationships, couples share many things in
common
Read more in Aronson, Myers
5. Reciprocal Liking: someone likes you and you like them back. Human tendency to want to give
something back when something is received. This can be often seen in friends, colleagues. If a fellow
treat you nicely, you tend to treat them nice back and also favor them over the others. Of course
reality has shown that this is not applied to everyone
6. A reinforcement-affect model: we like people who are around when we experience a positive feeling
Experiment: evaluating a stranger when we feel hot and crowded
Context: 3 variables:
>heat normal or hot
>population density
> Attitude similarity
Results: rate a stranger more attractive when the stranger shares similar attitudes
Stressful background factors reduced the attractiveness of the stranger even attitudes are similar.
Read more in Hogg
7. Cultural stereotypes different cultures has different standards for attractiveness and for desirable
personalities of the partner
Read more in Hogg
B. Relationship development
1. What is love? (Aronson)
- hard to define because feelings can be difficult to measure. One attempt to define love is Triangle of
love by Sternberg
3 factors: passion (sexual attraction, intense physical arousal), commitment (maintain the
relationship), intimacy(closeness and sharing)
