Ch3 Attraction
The fundamental basis of relationships = reward
Instrumentality: fundamental basis of attraction, extent to which someone can help us achieve
our goals
Proximity: distance, convenience, familiarity
Mere exposure effect: repeated contact
Physical attractiveness: symmetry, women (youth & fertility), men (health & maturity)
Mate value: overall attractiveness
Bias for beauty: beauty = opportunities and advantages; what is beautiful is good
Women’s cycle: follicular phase (stronger features), ovulation, luteal phase (warm, youthful)
Evolutionary: universal standards; women look for resources and advertise attractiveness, men
look for youth and fertility and advertise success
Attractive body: waist-to-hip ratio (0.7 for women, 0.9 + money for men)
Matching hypothesis - marital satisfaction
Cost of beauty: influence social lives (more for men), doubt praise, but happier
Reciprocity: desirability = physical attractiveness and probability of acceptance
Balance theory; prefer consistency and symmetry, liking those who like us
Complementarity: good fit
Similarity: liking those who share something important to us
Discovering similarities: takes time, dissimilarity decrease over time, effort for compatibility
Stimulus-value-role theory, fatal attraction
Psychological reactance: liking those we cannot have, potentials get prettier at closing time
Sexual selection and sexual dimorphism
The fundamental basis of relationships = reward
Instrumentality: fundamental basis of attraction, extent to which someone can help us achieve
our goals
Proximity: distance, convenience, familiarity
Mere exposure effect: repeated contact
Physical attractiveness: symmetry, women (youth & fertility), men (health & maturity)
Mate value: overall attractiveness
Bias for beauty: beauty = opportunities and advantages; what is beautiful is good
Women’s cycle: follicular phase (stronger features), ovulation, luteal phase (warm, youthful)
Evolutionary: universal standards; women look for resources and advertise attractiveness, men
look for youth and fertility and advertise success
Attractive body: waist-to-hip ratio (0.7 for women, 0.9 + money for men)
Matching hypothesis - marital satisfaction
Cost of beauty: influence social lives (more for men), doubt praise, but happier
Reciprocity: desirability = physical attractiveness and probability of acceptance
Balance theory; prefer consistency and symmetry, liking those who like us
Complementarity: good fit
Similarity: liking those who share something important to us
Discovering similarities: takes time, dissimilarity decrease over time, effort for compatibility
Stimulus-value-role theory, fatal attraction
Psychological reactance: liking those we cannot have, potentials get prettier at closing time
Sexual selection and sexual dimorphism
