Interpersonal Relationships

• Abraham Maslow claims that there is a basic human need to belong and to be accepted by others.

• People live in groups and families and define themselves in terms of important others.

Close Relationship: relationship involving strong and frequent interdependence in many domains of life.

Where does attraction begin?

• Why do people become attracted to each other? Four main areas have been investigated:– Proximity– Physical attractiveness– Similarity– Being liked

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Psychology of Attraction

1. Proximity: Geographic nearness is a powerful predictor of friendship. Repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases their attraction (mere exposure effect).

A rare white penguin born in a zoo was accepted after 3 weeks by other penguins just due to proximity.

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Environment: Proximity• To meet people is not necessarily to love them, but

to love them we must first meet them!• Convenience

• Proximity is rewarding, Distance is costly.• Absence does not seem to make the heart grow fonder

• Familiarity– Mere exposure to someone usually increases our liking

and attraction for him or her.

• Power of Proximity– Overexposure or saturation may not enhance attraction.– Best conclusion from research is that proximity is that is

accentuates our feelings about others. Proximity (liking the ones we are near)

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Psychology of Attraction

2. Physical Attractiveness: Once proximity affords contact, the next most important thing in attraction is physical appearance.

Proximity• Classic study by Festinger, Schachter and Back (1950)

found that students who lived closer together on campus were more likely to become friends than those living apart. This indicates the significance of proximity in the initial stages of a relationship/friendship.

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Psychology of Attraction

3. Similarity: Similar views among individuals causes the bond of attraction to strengthen.

Biological Factors

• Pheromones: is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species.

• Oxytocin: it is sometimes referred to as the "love hormone". There is some evidence that oxytocin promotes ethnocentric behavior.

• Hormones can affect female attraction to men• Waist-to-hip-ratio affects male attraction to

females (Johnson and Tassinary, 2005)

Face Symmetry

• Facial symmetry is a key component of human perceptions of attractiveness.

• Hormones such as testosterone and estrogen are believed to be associated with developmental processes and growth of facial features during puberty and as a result are hypothesized to be the cause for individual differences in the implications associated with facial symmetry

Similarity Theory

• Birds of a feather flock together– Attraction increases in direct proportion to

increases in similarity between participants and strangers (Byrne & Nelson, 1965)

• Three Areas of Similarity that Increase Liking– Demographic Similarity– Attitudes and Values– Personality

• Similar cognitive complexities• Similar emotional styles• Attachment styles

Social Relations- Attractiveness

Mere Exposure Effect repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of

them Conceptions of attractiveness vary by culture

Mere Exposure• Very simply, the more we see

something the more we like it (as long as exposure is not incessant – effect tops out between 10-20 exposures).

• Examples abound– Zajonc’s research on nonsense

syllables (further he demonstrated that we don’t need to be consciously aware of exposure – in fact, effects are stronger!).

– Photograph vs. mirror image preferences.

The implications of evolution and culture in perceptions of attractiveness

• Marcus and Miller (2003) found that there is a general consensus regarding what is attractive.

• Generally, women with youthful features – large eyes, full lips and a small nose are perceived as more attractive than those whose faces are not so baby-like.

• This is the case cross-culturally (Jones, 1995). However, signs of maturity are also important – prominent cheekbones and broad smiles (Cunningham et al., 2002).

Mirror vs. Photograph• It has been found that people prefer their

mirror image over their actual image due to the mere-exposure effect (Mita, Dermer & Knight, 1977). Zajonc (1968) theorized that people prefer things that they are exposed to more often.

• The present study has 30 participants that chose between a mirror image or an actual image of themselves and of a randomly selected partner.

• Future studies could take into account confounds of the control of the setting in the present experiment and also introduce the idea of choosing between images in motion instead of still images.

Culture and Attractiveness • As for men, masculine features are perceived highly attractive

(Little et al., 2002).• Average and symmetrical faces are also attractive in both

sexes (Rhodes, Sumich and Byatt, 1999).• In cultures where food is sparse, heavier women are more

desirable and vice versa (Nelson and Morrison, 2005).• Men and women both find warmth, vitality and status attractive

in the opposite sex; a finding notified around the world (Tran et al., 2008).

Physical Attractiveness

• As much as we deny it, we are swayed by how people look.

• Hatfield and Berscheid have both done research that indicates that the more attractive a female is, the more likely she is to date.– The effect is slightly less strong for males.

• Matching phenomenon– Couples (even friends) tend to be relatively equal in

attractiveness.– When not true, less attractive partner usually

compensates on some other factor (e.g., very wealthy older men marrying beautiful young women).

Impact of Beauty Stereotype

• Attractive people have better jobs and make more money.

• Irene Hanson Frieze found that for each incremental improvement in attractiveness a person earns, on average, $2300 more each year.

• Attractive people are perceived to be more popular and outgoing.– This is probably reality, as they gain confidence from

positive attention.

Good News About Beauty

• Beauty is a two-way street.

• Although we like attractive people more, we also tend to find people we like to be attractive!

• The more in love we are with someone, the more attractive we view them, and the less attractive we view others of opposite sex.

Halo Effect

Analyze why relationships may change or end

• Social exchange theory (Kelley and Thibaut, 1959) Based on cost-benefit analysis where cost of relationship must not outweigh the benefits.

• Equity theory (Walster, 1978) • Equality is important in maintenance of fidelity• Individuals who feel deprived or under-benefited

are more likely to cheat than individuals who feel fairly treated or over-benefited (Hatfield, 1979)

• Fatal attraction theory (Felmlee, 1995 )

• Factor that caused initial attraction is also responsible for its ultimate demise

• A musician that lives freely and day-to-day is initially attractive but long-term his partner may view him as undesirable to settle down with.

Explain the role that culture plays in the formation and maintenance of relationships

• Cross-cultural perspectives on infidelity (Druckerman, 2007)

• Japanese do not consider it cheating if you pay for sex

• Russians do not consider it cheating if you have extramarital sex while on vacation at a beach resort

• South Africans consider inebriation a proper excuse for cheating - they are forgiven

Berscheid and Hatfield

• One of the difficulties in studying human relationships is defining “love”.

• Berscheid and Hatfield have distinguised between passionate and companionate love.

Romantic Love• Passionate Love: An aroused state of intense positive

absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a love relationship.

Two Factor Theory of Emotion:

• Physical arousal plus cognitive appraisal

• Arousal from any source can enhance one

• Emotion depending upon what we interpret or

label the arousal.

• Companionate Love: A deep, affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined.