Interpersonal Attraction

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Interpersonal Attraction

• Milburn
• Psychology 230

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Real Real Gone
I got hit by a bow and arrow Got me down to the
very marrow And Im real real gone Some people
say You can make it on your own Oh you can make
it if you try I know better now You cant stand
up alone --Van Morrison
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Factors Influencing Interpersonal Attraction

• Attraction in the short term
• Propinquity
• Physical attractiveness IQ personality
• Attitude similarity
• Long-term relationships
• Couples research (Rubin)
• Family systems
• The effects of co-habitation
• Neurotransmitters endorphins, oxytocin

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Factors Influencing Interpersonal Attraction

• Attraction in the short term
• Propinquity
• Physical attractiveness IQ personality
• Attitude similarity
• Long-term relationships
• Couples research (Rubin)
• Family systems
• The effects of co-habitation
• Neurotransmitters endorphins, oxytocin

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Factors Influencing Interpersonal Attraction

• Attraction in the short term
• Propinquity
• Physical attractiveness IQ personality
• Attitude similarity
• Long-term relationships
• Couples research (Rubin)
• Family systems
• The effects of co-habitation
• Neurotransmitters endorphins, oxytocin

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Propinquity

• The Westgate Housing Project (Festinger, Schacter
  Back )
• Expectation of close interaction (Darley
  Berschied)

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Westgate Housing Project
Street
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Westgate Housing Project
Street
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Westgate Housing Project
Street
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Westgate Housing Project
Less than 1/2 as many friends
Street
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Propinquity

• The Westgate Housing Project (Festinger, Schacter
  Back )
• Expectation of close interaction (Darley
  Berschied)
• Subjects given two folders with ambiguous
  personality information (A and B)
• Told they would meet one woman, not the other
• Woman that they expected to meet higher
  anticipated liking

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Factors Influencing Interpersonal Attraction

• Attraction in the short term
• Propinquity
• Physical attractiveness IQ personality
• Attitude similarity
• Long-term relationships
• Couples research (Rubin)
• Family systems
• The effects of co-habitation
• Neurotransmitters endorphins, oxytocin

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Walster et al. Computer Dating Study

• Freshman Welcome Week dance
• I.V.s
• Attractiveness rated
• Personality tests (social skills
  introversion-extroversion masculinity-femininity
  MMPI
• IQ
• Subjects matched for date (randomly)
• D.V.s
• Rated date at intermission
• Contacted several months later about further dates

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Computer Dating Study

• Physical attractiveness the most important factor
• Intelligence and personality were not related to
  future dating

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Stereotypes of Physical Attractiveness

• Stereotypes of young children (Dion Bersheid)
• Self-fulfilling nature of attractiveness
  stereotypes (Snyder et al.)

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Stereotypes of Physical Attractiveness

• Stereotypes of young children (Dion Bersheid)
• Self-fulfilling nature of attractiveness
  stereotypes (Snyder et al.)

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Stereotypes of Physical Attractiveness

• Stereotypes of young children (Dion Bersheid)
• Self-fulfilling nature of attractiveness
  stereotypes (Snyder et al.)

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Snyder et al.

• Males (subjects) thought experiment was about
  communication--had picture taken
• Told would have conversation w/female student
  given folder with a womans picture
• I.V. either attractive or unattractive woman
  (but not woman male subject was to talk with)
• Talked on phone to a female subject call
  recorded
• D.V.s
• Before call male rated expected friendliness
• After call male rated perceived friendliness
• Conversation rated for actual friendliness

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Snyder et al. Results

• Males expectations reflected stereotypes
• if thought they were going to talk to an
  attractive woman--expected her to be friendlier
  and perceived that she was friendlier than males
  who thought they were talking to unattractive
  woman
• Males expectations were also a self-fulfilling
  prophecy
• Independent judges rated woman (thought to have
  been attractive) to have been friendlier

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Factors Influencing Interpersonal Attraction

• Attraction in the short term
• Propinquity
• Physical attractiveness IQ personality
• Attitude similarity
• Long-term relationships
• Couples research (Rubin)
• Family systems
• The effects of co-habitation
• Neurotransmitters endorphins, oxytocin

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Attitude Similarity and Liking

• Attitude similarity correlates with liking
• Liking causes perception of similarity (Byrne and
  Blaylock)--married couples
• Perceived similarity causes liking
  (Newcomb)--University of Michigan transfer
  students

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Factors Influencing Interpersonal Attraction

• Attraction in the short term
• Propinquity
• Physical attractiveness IQ personality
• Attitude similarity
• Long-term relationships
• Couples research (Rubin)
• Family systems
• The effects of co-habitation
• Neurotransmitters endorphins, oxytocin

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Factors Influencing Interpersonal Attraction

• Attraction in the short term
• Propinquity
• Physical attractiveness IQ personality
• Attitude similarity
• Long-term relationships
• Couples research (Rubin)
• Family systems
• The effects of co-habitation
• Neurotransmitters endorphins, oxytocin

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Dating Couples (Rubin)

• Two-year study of dating couples in Boston
• 231 couples 95 students 97 white, 44
  Catholic, 26 Protestant, 25 Jewish 25 lived
  at home, 35 in apartments, 38 in dorms
• Asked have had sexual intercourse? 80
• Living together? 20

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Dating Couples (Rubin)

• What percent had broken up?
• 45
• What was the effect of having had sex or living
  together?
• UNRELATED

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Similarily

• Together
• SAT .31
• Phy Attr .32
• Attitudes .50

• Breakup
• SAT .17
• Phy Attr .16
• Attitudes .41

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Factors Influencing Interpersonal Attraction

• Attraction in the short term
• Propinquity
• Physical attractiveness IQ personality
• Attitude similarity
• Long-term relationships
• Couples research (Rubin)
• The effects of co-habitation
• Family systems
• Neurotransmitters endorphins, oxytocin

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Bumpass, Sweet, and Cherlin (1991)

• Increase in living together prior to marriage
• 1970--11
• 1985--49 (recent first marriages)
• 40 of cohabitation couples break up without
  getting married
• After 1 1/2 years, half of cohabitating couples
  are either broken up or married
• Bumpass Sweet (1989)--50 higher disruption
  rate of marriages that are preceded by living
  together

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Causal Interpretations of a Correlation

• Cohabitation and divorce are correlated
• If two variables, A and B are correlated
• There are three explanations
• A causes B
• B causes A
• Third variable (C) or spurious correlation
  explanation C causes both A and B

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Explanations for Correlation of Cohabitation and
Divorce

• Can divorce cause cohabitation? B causes A
• (1) Cohabiting causes higher divorce rate (e.g.,
  Habits of relating to each other (that seem
  appropriate to the unmarried) persist into
  marriage. (p. 922) A causes B
• (2) People in cohabiting unions are less well
  adjusted C causes A and B
• (3) People willing to cohabit are less
  traditional in their values, more willing to
  accept divorce as a solution to unhappiness C
  causes A and B

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Bumpass, Martin Sweet (1991)

• National Survey of Families and Households
• Primary predictors of marital disruption
• Early age at marriage
• Low education
• Enrolled in school or worked during first year of
  marriage
• Cohabitated with spouse or others prior to
  marriage

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Their Explanation for Cohabitation Effect

• the most compelling explanation seems to be one
  of selection (Booth Johnson, 1988). That is,
  it seems far more likely that cohabitation
  signals preexisting differences in values and
  relational styles than that the experience of
  cohabitation itself reduces the likelihood of
  marital stability. ( Bumpass, Martin Sweet,
  1991, p. 32)

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Cunningham Antill (1994)

• Couples recruited through newspaper ads
• Comparing married couples who had M(C) and had
  not M(NC) lived together prior to marriage
• On a variety of variables measuring autonomy and
  attachment, M(C) wives were significantly higher
  in autonomy needs and significantly lower in
  attachment needs than the M(NC) wives

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Brown Booth (1996)

• NSFH survey
• Relationship quality of cohabitating couples is
  no different than that of married couples
• Cohabitors without plans to marry are more likely
  to have difficulty sustaining intimate
  relationships

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Factors Influencing Interpersonal Attraction

• Attraction in the short term
• Propinquity
• Physical attractiveness IQ personality
• Attitude similarity
• Long-term relationships
• Couples research (Rubin)
• The effects of co-habitation
• Family systems
• Neurotransmitters endorphins, oxytocin

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Importance of family experience on relationships

• Hazen Shaver
• Attachment Theory (Bowlby)
• Secure Anxious Avoidant
• The attachment style developed in childhood is
  significantly related to the type of romantic
  relationships one has an adult.

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Hazen Shaver

• Respondents described their most important
  romantic relationship and parenting from mother
• Secure average relationship length 10 years
• Avoidant/ambivalent relationship length 6
  years
• Anxious relationships characterized by
  preoccupation and extreme sexual attraction
  relationship length 4 years

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Factors Influencing Interpersonal Attraction

• Attraction in the short term
• Propinquity
• Physical attractiveness IQ personality
• Attitude similarity
• Long-term relationships
• Couples research (Rubin)
• Family systems
• The effects of co-habitation
• Neurotransmitters endorphins, oxytocin

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Neuropsychology of Sex and Attraction

• Love is universal (anthropologist
  Jankowiak)--evolutionary contribution
• PEA (phenylethylamine)--falling in love
• low PEA levels might lead to seeking
  relationships to increase PEA levels (Liebowitz,
  1983)
• Oxytocin (hormone)--bonding
• levels increase following sexual arousal and
  orgasm nursing mothers as well
• Endorphins (endogenous opiates)

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Conclusion

• Attraction a combination of
• Evolutionary development
• Brain chemicals
• Childhood experiences
• Situational factors