Santa Fe College Basics of Interpersonal Attraction Analysis Excerpt Summary from Greenberg et al. (2018): Interpersonal Attraction The Need to Belong T

Santa Fe College Basics of Interpersonal Attraction Analysis Excerpt Summary from Greenberg et al. (2018):

Interpersonal Attraction

The Need to Belong

The desire to form social relationships is a fundamental part of human nature. We have a fundamental need to belong. Like other needs, the need to belong can be satisfied in flexible ways. Belonging promotes mental and physical health. Loneliness and rejection take a toll on mental and physical health. The need to belong has an evolutionary basis. People of all cultures share the need to belong. Newborn infants instinctively engage other people. Social rejection activates the same stress responses as physical pain. Long-term relationships promote successful procreation and the raising of offspring.

The Basics of Interpersonal Attraction

Physical proximity is an important factor in developing relationships, although its importance is tempered by social media. Proximity’s power is due in part to the mere exposure effect.

According to the reward model of liking, people like those they associate with positive feelings and dislike those associated with negative feelings.

People like others who remind them of others they like. People like those with culturally valued attributes and personality traits. Self-reports of traits that people prefer often don’t predict their liking of people they meet who have those traits.

People tend to like others who fulfill their needs for meaning and self-esteem—specifically, those who are perceived as similar to the self in attitudes, personality, and subjective experience, though opposites can attract under particular conditions; reciprocate liking; and flatter them.

Physical Attractiveness

Sexual and aesthetic appeal predict liking. Association with attractive people can bolster self-esteem. Attractive people are stereotyped to have positive traits, called the halo effect

Composite and symmetrical faces are rated as more attractive, perhaps as a reflection of good health or because they seem familiar.

Men universally prefer a waist-to-hip ratio that suggests fertility. At times of peak fertility, women seem to be more attracted to more masculine faces. Men report an ideal preference for attractiveness; women report an ideal preference for social and financial status. In actual relationships, men and women are equally influenced by physical attractiveness and, to a lesser extent, partner status. Women’s stated preference for higher-status men might also be changing as women achieve greater equality. Both men and women rank personality traits such as warmth and loyalty above all other factors.

Gay men tend to emphasize the physical attributes and masculine traits of their partner. Lesbians show more complexity in what they find attractive in a partner.

Standards of beauty vary across cultures and over time. Scarcity and status influence trends. Attractiveness can change across time and place, and perceptions of attractiveness are highly flexible.

Gender Differences in Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors

Men’s attitudes toward sex reflect the reproductive advantages of mating with multiple women, while women’s attitudes reflect the need to find one mate to help support child rearing.

Motives to have sex are shaped by culturally informed beliefs about personal value and fitting in.

Cultural norms also affect attitudes, as evidenced by changing attitudes toward premarital sex across generations as well as among cultures.

There is some evidence that men and women view sexual and emotional infidelity from different perspectives. Researchers debate the relative role of evolved mechanisms and cultural influences in creating these differences.

–> After reading through the summary above and any other materials regarding interpersonal attraction, please watch this video on attraction (28:21 minutes).

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3811018.htm

What to include in this assignment:

Consider some people that you find most attractive. Which of the characteristics that social psychologists have found to be important do you think apply here? Which do not? What other characteristics do you think are important in determining how attractive you perceive others as being?
What cross-cultural differences do you see in perceptions of physical attractiveness? What potential reasons can you think of to explain these differences?

You do not have to cite any of this work.