Chapter 14: Attraction and close relationships
Homo sapiens = wise, knowing and judicious humans.
Homo socius = humans who can be allies, friends and partners.
There is evidence that the primary cue in initially determining our evaluation of others is
how they look.
Having good looks:
→ if you’re female, babies will gaze longer
→ in computer-simulation studies, attractiveness is associated with some feminisation of
facial features, even for male faces, and with having a slimmer figure.
→ an attractive person is a youthful person, is judged as more honest and, if a female
defendant, gets an easier time from jurors.
Evolutionary social psychology = an extension of evolutionary psychology that views
complex social behavior as adaptive, helping the individual, kin and the species as a whole
to survive.
A woman's fertility status can affect how she relates to some men.
→ a woman near ovulation is more likely to prefer a man who is competitive with other men,
particularly if she thinks about having a short-term mate.
The color red catches the eye of males. When red is used as a background color in
photos of a woman, it enhances her sexual attractiveness, though not her perceived
intelligence.
Averageness effect = humans have evolved to prefer average faces to those with unusual
or distinctive features.
3 ‘ideal partner’ dimensions guide the preferences of both men and women:
1. warmth, trustworthiness, showing care and intimacy
2. vitality, attractiveness, signs of health and reproductive fitness
3. status, resources, being socially prominent and financially sound
Factors that determine how we come to like people even more: proximity, familiarity,
similarity.
Proximity = the factor of living close by is known to play an important role in the early stages
of forming a friendship.
Familiarity = as we become more familiar with a stimulus (even another person), we feel
more comfortable with it and we like it more.
→ Mere exposure effect = repeated exposure to an object results in greater attraction to
that object.
Similarity of attitudes = one of the most important positive, psychological determinants of
attractions.
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Homo sapiens = wise, knowing and judicious humans.
Homo socius = humans who can be allies, friends and partners.
There is evidence that the primary cue in initially determining our evaluation of others is
how they look.
Having good looks:
→ if you’re female, babies will gaze longer
→ in computer-simulation studies, attractiveness is associated with some feminisation of
facial features, even for male faces, and with having a slimmer figure.
→ an attractive person is a youthful person, is judged as more honest and, if a female
defendant, gets an easier time from jurors.
Evolutionary social psychology = an extension of evolutionary psychology that views
complex social behavior as adaptive, helping the individual, kin and the species as a whole
to survive.
A woman's fertility status can affect how she relates to some men.
→ a woman near ovulation is more likely to prefer a man who is competitive with other men,
particularly if she thinks about having a short-term mate.
The color red catches the eye of males. When red is used as a background color in
photos of a woman, it enhances her sexual attractiveness, though not her perceived
intelligence.
Averageness effect = humans have evolved to prefer average faces to those with unusual
or distinctive features.
3 ‘ideal partner’ dimensions guide the preferences of both men and women:
1. warmth, trustworthiness, showing care and intimacy
2. vitality, attractiveness, signs of health and reproductive fitness
3. status, resources, being socially prominent and financially sound
Factors that determine how we come to like people even more: proximity, familiarity,
similarity.
Proximity = the factor of living close by is known to play an important role in the early stages
of forming a friendship.
Familiarity = as we become more familiar with a stimulus (even another person), we feel
more comfortable with it and we like it more.
→ Mere exposure effect = repeated exposure to an object results in greater attraction to
that object.
Similarity of attitudes = one of the most important positive, psychological determinants of
attractions.
61
