Attraction

Attraction

• 1.
  By Col Mukteshwar Prasad(Retd) Attraction (SocialPsychology -6)
• 2.
  Attraction  Attraction  Interpersonalattraction refers to positive feelings about another person.  It can take many forms, including liking, love, friendship, lust, and admiration.  Influences  Many factors influence whom people are attracted to.  They include  physical attractiveness,  proximity,  similarity, and  reciprocity:
• 3.
  Influences for attraction Physical attractiveness: Research shows that romantic attraction is primarily determined by physical attractiveness.  In the early stages of dating, people are more attracted to partners whom they consider to be physically attractive.  Men are more likely to value physical attractiveness than are women.  People’s perception of their own physical attractiveness also plays a role in romantic love.  The matching hypothesis proposes that people tend to pick partners who are about equal in level of attractiveness to themselves.  Proximity: People are more likely to become friends with people who are geographically close.  One explanation for this is the mere exposure effect.  The mere exposure effect refers to people’s tendency to like novel stimuli more if they encounter them repeatedly.  Similarity: People also tend to pick partners who are similar to themselves in characteristics such as age, race, religion, social class, personality, education, intelligence, and attitude.
• 4.
  Influences for attraction Similarity: People also tend to ……. education, intelligence, and attitude.  This similarity is seen not only between romantic partners but also between friends.  Some researchers have suggested that similarity causes attraction.  Others acknowledge that people may be more likely to have friends and partners who are similar to themselves simply because of accessibility:  people are more likely to associate with people who are similar to themselves.  Reciprocity: People tend to like others who reciprocate their liking. (See presentation on Reciprocity)
• 5.
  Romantic Love  Manyresearchers focus on one particular form of attraction: romantic love.  Kinds of Romantic Love  Researchers have proposed that romantic love includes two kinds of love:  passionate love and  compassionate love.  These two kinds of love may occur together, but they do not always go hand in hand in a relationship:  Passionate love: Involves absorption in another person, sexual desire, tenderness, and intense emotion.  Compassionate love: Involves warmth, trust, and tolerance of another person.  Compassionate love is sometimes considered to have two components:  intimacy and  commitment.  Intimacy is the warm, close, sharing aspect of a relationship.  Commitment is the intent to continue the relationship even in the face of difficulties.
• 6.
  Romantic Love  Researchersbelieve commitment is a good predictor of the stability of a relationship.  Attachment Styles  Some researchers study the influence of childhood attachment styles on adult relationships.  Many researchers believe that as adults, people relate to their partners in the same way that they related to their caretakers in infancy.  Cultural Similarities and Differences  There are both similarities and differences among cultures in romantic attraction.  Researchers have found that people in many different cultures place a high value on mutual attraction between partners and the kindness, intelligence, emotional stability, dependability, and good health of partners.  However, people in different cultures place a different value on romantic love within a marriage.  People in individualistic cultures often believe romantic love is a prerequisite for marriage.
• 7.
  Romantic Love  EvolutionaryPerspectives  Evolutionary psychologists speculate that the tendency to be attracted to physically attractive people is adaptive.  Many cultures value particular aspects of physical attractiveness, such as facial symmetry and a small waist-to-hip ratio.  Evolutionary psychologists point out that facial symmetry can be an indicator of good health, since many developmental abnormalities tend to produce facial asymmetries.  A small waist-to-hip ratio, which produces an “hourglass” figure, indicates high reproductive potential.  As predicted by the parental investment theory men tend to be more interested in their partners’ youthfulness and physical attractiveness.  Evolutionary psychologists think that this is because these characteristics indicate that women will be able to reproduce successfully.  Women, on the other hand, tend to value partners’ social status, wealth, and ambition, because these are characteristics of men who can successfully provide for offspring.