Attraction

1
Attraction

• June 4th, 2007

2
Todays Agenda

• Recap
• Questions from last time?
• Where do our friends come from?
• In-class exercise
• Propinquity
• Similarity
• Assorted other attraction issues

3
Recap

• All human cultures most primates live in groups
• Living in groups is practical
• Isolation is terrible for people
• People are different in groups
• Deindividuation
• Group polarization

4
Questions from last time?

• Did you enjoy Quiet Rage?
• Thumbs up
• Thumbs to side
• Thumbs down

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Where do your friends come from?

• Where did you meet your friends?
• Do your friends have similar interests to you?
  Similar opinions?
• How important is physical attractiveness
• In romantic relationships?
• In friendships?

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Propinquity

• Studies of Propinquity and Attraction
• Westwood West Study (Festinger, Schachter,
  Back, 1950)
• used a Sociometric Survey a survey that attempts
  to measure the interpersonal relationships in a
  group of people
• measured Functional Distance - an architectural
  layouts propensity to encourage or inhibit
  certain activities, like contact between people

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Who has more friends?

• 1
• 2
• Equal
• Cant guess

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Organizing by Name

• Correlational study of friendship in MD Police
  Academy (Segal, 1974)
• Alphabetical assignment of housing seating
• Who was friends with who at the end?

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Propinquity

• The previous studies were with homogenous
  populations (everyone was similar)
• MIT after the war
• MD State police
• Maybe propinquity only matters when theres
  nothing else to go on?
• Does propinquity matter with a more diverse
  group?

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Propinquity

• Manhattan Housing Project study (Nahemow
  Lawton, 1975)
• ½ Black
• 1/3 White
• 1/6th Puerto Rican
• Propinquity Similarity had effects on
  friendship
• Best friends 85 same building, 50 same floor
• 70 of friendships across category were on same
  floor vs. 40 within category

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Why Propinquity?

• Availability
• You need to meet people to befriend them
• Anticipating interaction
• People like people more if they expect to meet
  them, all other things equal
• Motivated to be nice, and being nice gets you
  friends
• Mere exposure effect
• Demonstrated by our friend Zajonc

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Mere Exposure Effect

• The more you are exposed to something, the more
  you like it.
• The more you see Bob Zajonc, the more you will
  grow to like him
• This is a general effect it happens in multiple
  species and across domains

The more you see me, the more you like me!
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Mere Exposure

• Used Novel stimuli
• Effect same for all
• Also works subliminally

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Audiophile Rats

• Rats raised on a composer learn to like his
  style
• IV Music played during early life
• DV Place preference

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Similarity and Attraction

• Studies of Similarity and Attraction
• Whyte (1956) study of Chicago suburb layout
• People who get together tend to share either
  location or interests

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Fig. 3.5
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Similarity and Attraction

• Bogus Stranger paradigm
• Experimental paradigm
• Participant tries to make inferences about
  stranger based on limited information
• Given Qs supposedly filled out by someone else
• These are rigged to be either similar or
  different
• Make a variety of judgments about this
  (fictional) person, including how likely it is
  they would like them
• People predict liking those whose answers are
  similar to their own

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Similarity and Attraction

• Opposites attract
• Are there any Paula Abdul fans in the house?
• Complementarity
• Most studies claiming to support complementarity
  have been criticized on methodological grounds
• Similarity appears to be the rule, and
  complementarity, the exception, in attraction

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Similarity and Attraction

• Why Does Similarity Promote Attraction?
• Similar Others Validate Our Beliefs and
  Orientations
• I knew I was right about Bush! Natalie thinks so
  too!
• Similarity Facilitates Smooth Interactions
• Theres something to talk about
• We Expect Similar Others to Like Us
• This makes us behave more positively towards them
• Similar Others Have Qualities We Like
• Our qualities are ones we like

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First, Id like your opinions

• What can you tell about someone from a picture?
• Personality?
• Intelligence?
• Kindness?
• Lets try something

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Well talk about that after the break
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A Few things about Physical Attractiveness

• Though we tend to like those people who are
  physically attractive, the reverse is also true
  We find people we like more attractive than those
  we dont like.
• Happy couples tend to idolize each others
  physical attractiveness
• Do I think my wife is better-looking than she is?
• Physical attractiveness is less stable than we
  think some less attractive young people get
  better looking with age, and some great looking
  young people lose their luster with age.
• Any personal stories here?

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Physical Attractiveness

• Thank God Im pretty!
• Halo Effect
• Common belief that attractive individuals possess
  a host of positive qualities beyond their
  physical appearance
• Do attractive people really have better social
  skills than others?
• Goldman Lewis, 1977 Ratings over the phone w/
  member of opposite sex of varied attractiveness

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Physical Attractiveness

• The physical attractiveness stereotype may be due
  to a self-fulfilling prophecy - the tendency for
  people to act in ways that elicit confirmation of
  a belief that they hold
• Snyder, Tanke, Berscheid (1977) gave males bogus
  picture (attractive or unattractive)
• Phone conversation
• Listened to only womens half of conversation
• Attractive warmer, more socially poised

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Physical Attractiveness

• Good lookers have it good from the start!
• More affectionate playful attention from
  parents
• More friends in nursery school
• Rated as smarter better behaved by teachers

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Physical Attractiveness

• Even babies like the attractive ones!
• Babies look at attractive faces longer

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Gender and the Impact of Physical Attractiveness

• It is more important for women to be attractive
  than men
• Popularity, dating prospects, marriage
  opportunities

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Physical Attractiveness

• But why does P.A. have these effects?
• Immediacy
• First impressions really are strong, and whether
  someone is attractive is known immediately
• Prestige
• Sigall and Landy (1973) study
• Female Male confederates
• Girlfriend or not, pretty or not
• M.C. rated as more likeable, friendly, confident
  when girl is girlfriend and pretty

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Biology of Attractiveness

• Part of being beautiful is being healthy,
  markers of health
• Cross-Cultural Agreement on What is Attractive
• Beauty same in eyes of different beholders
  (r.93)
• Symmetry
• What is Attractive Changes Over Time
• Fashions of day

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Do Women Men have Different Priorities?

• Sex Differences in Mate Preferences and Perceived
  Attractiveness
• Men seem to want beauty (and lots of mates)
• Women seem to want resources fewer mates
• Back to graph

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Fig. 3.6 bottom
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1600s Supermodel

• Rubens (1577-1640)
• What western society considers attractive has
  changed throughout history
• Different across cultures
• Varies with availability of food
• Less food more ample women
• Hungry men like more substantial women

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Mid 20th Icon

• Marilyn Monroe
• Thinner than before, heavier than current ideal
• Elizabeth Hurley quote

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Ideal woman 2006?

• Keira Knightly
• Vogues covergirl this month
• Skinny accusations of eating disorders

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The magic ratio 710

• Males prefer females w/ a waist-to-hip ratio of
  0.7
• This is very unattractive in men
• Weight declines, ratio doesnt change
• Miss America 1920-2000
• Playboy models
• Thought to be a marker for fertility

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Matching Hypothesis

• People tend to pair up with similarly attractive
  others
• Strong tendency inromantic relationships
• Somewhat less so for friends
• 9 mos. later

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What Do Women Find Attractive?

• Is the masculine ideal more stable?
• Cycle-dependent attractiveness
• Sexy Son Hypothesis

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Average Faces

• The Average Face is Attractive (Langlois
  Roggman, 1990)
• Individual faces vs. composites
• People judge composites as more attractive
• http//www.faceoftomorrow.com/thefaces.asp

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Physical Attractiveness

• Some important conclusions from research on
  physical attractiveness and attraction
• Though there are some features that are nearly
  universally-regarded as attractive, there is
  considerable variability in what individuals find
  attractive
• You might have a type you find attractive
• Other idiosyncratic somethings you find
  off-putting or intriguing

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Questions Comments?

• Tomorrow, relationships!