Baron_Chapter7.ppt

Chapter 7
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Interpersonal Attraction:
Meeting, Liking, Becoming
Acquainted
Copyright 2006, Allyn and Bacon

Interpersonal Attraction
• Internal Determinants of Attraction: The
Need to Affiliate and the Basic Role of
Affect
• External Determinants of Attraction:
Proximity and Observable Characteristics
• Interactive Determinants of Attraction:
Similarity and Mutual Liking

Internal Determinants of Attraction
• The Importance of Affiliation for Human
Existence
– The tendency to affiliate appears to be based on
neurobiological factors.
• Human infants seem to be born with the motivation to
seek contact with those in their social environment.
– Newborns prefer to look at faces more than other stimuli.
• People respond automatically to facial cues.

– Individual differences in the need to affiliate
• Need for Affiliation—basic motive to seek and
maintain interpersonal relationships
• Need appears to be a relatively stable trait
• When affiliation needs are not met, sadness and anger
may result and cognitive functioning may be affected.
– Situational influences on the need to affiliate
• Threatening situations (e.g., natural disasters) may
increase the need to affiliate.
– People like to affiliate with those who are experiencing the
same negative event.
» Provides a means for social comparison

• Affect as a Basic Response System
– Affect—a person’s emotional state: positive and
negative feelings and moods
• Two important characteristics are intensity (strength) and
direction (positive and negative).
• Emotional states influence interpersonal attraction.
– Evolutionary factors offer an explanation regarding
why affect is a basic component of human behavior.
• Simple discriminations between stimuli can be made
– Increases likelihood of survival and reproduction

– Affect consists of at least two dimensions that
stimulate different parts of the brain.
• This explains why people can respond to situations with
ambivalence.
– Can be an adaptive strategy since exploration may need to
involve caution
– Additional subtypes of affect appear to exist
• For example, positive affect includes joy, interest, and
activation.

• Affect and Attraction
– The direct effect of emotions on attraction
• Positive affect leads to liking others.
• Negative affect leads to disliking others.
– The associated effect of emotions on attraction
• Occurs when another person is present when one’s
emotional state is aroused by something or someone
unrelated to that person
– For example, subliminal presentation of pleasant pictures can
increase expressed liking of a person one meets shortly after
viewing the pictures.

• Additional Implications of the Affect-Attraction
Relationship
– Laughter and liking
• Laughter helps strengthen bonds between people.
– Early interactions with others involve forms of play that evoke
laughter.
» Thought to the the origin of social interaction
• Sharing a humorous experience increases the likelihood of
a pleasant interaction between individuals.

– Manipulating affect to influence behavior
• Media advertising attempts to manipulate affect to
influence consumers’ and voters’ behaviors.
– These attempts are often subtle and effective.
• Effect of affect on evaluation is greatest
– When the audience is uninformed
– When they are unaware that their emotional state is being
manipulated
– When they are engaged in making decisions

• What are your thoughts?
– Why do people undergoing a negative event prefer
‘miserable’ company (i.e., people who also are
experiencing misery) and not simply company?
– Why are humor and laughter positively related to
attraction?
• What lessons can be learned from this research when
considering where to take someone on a date?
– What are examples of how the media influence
affect and subsequent behaviors?

External Determinants of Attraction
• The Power of Proximity: Unplanned Contacts
– Proximity—in attraction research, the physical
closeness between two individuals with respect to
where they live, where they sit in a classroom,
where they work, and so on
• Smaller physical distances are related to an increased
likelihood that two people will come into repeated
contact and exposure to each other, feel positive affect,
and develop mutual attraction.

– Why does proximity matter? Repeated exposure is
the key
• Repeated exposure (sometimes called the mere
exposure effect)—Zajonc’s (1968) finding that
frequent contact with any mildly negative, neutral, or
positive stimulus results in an increasingly positive
evaluation of that stimulus
– Repeated exposure without harmful effects increases
familiarity, reduces uncertainty, and increases liking

– Extensions of the repeated exposure effect
• The repeated exposure effect is stronger when people
are not aware that the exposure has occurred.
– Positive affect elicited by repeated exposure to subliminal
stimuli generalizes to other, similar stimuli
• People high in the need for structure may be more
responsive to repeated exposure effects.
• The repeated exposure effect does not happen when
people’s initial reaction to a stimulus is very negative.
– In this case, familiarity can result in more dislike.

– Applying knowledge about the effects of proximity
• It is possible to learn from research findings on
proximity and apply them to one’s surroundings and the
choices made within them.
• Architects have used this research to design offices and
neighborhoods to promote social interaction.

• Observable Characteristics: Instant Evaluations
– First impressions can arouse strong affect and may
overcome the effects of proximity.
• Indicates the influences of past experiences, stereotypes,
and attributions that do not apply to a particular person, but
yet are used in the evaluation of him or her
– Physical attractiveness: Judging books by their covers
• Physical attractiveness—combination of characteristics
that are evaluated as beautiful or handsome at the positive
extreme and as unattractive at the negative extreme
– Found to be an important factor in interpersonal attraction

• Physical appearance determines many social outcomes.
• People hold stereotypes based on people’s appearance.
– Most believe that attractiveness in both men and women is
associated with being interesting, sociable, exciting, well-adjusted,
and successful.
» Most assume that “what is beautiful is good”
– Positive stereotypes are universally related to attractiveness.
» However, the content of the stereotypes may differ according
to which traits a culture values.
– Most of the common appearance stereotypes are inaccurate.
» However, attractiveness is associated with popularity, good
interpersonal skills, and high self-esteem, which probably
result from how attractive people are treated by others.

– Exceptions to the positive stereotypes regarding attractive people
» Beautiful women may be perceived as vain and materialistic
» Only attractive male (not female) political candidates are
more likely to be elected
• People can be wrong about others’ perceptions of how
they look.
– Appearance Anxiety—apprehension or worry about whether
one’s physical appearance is adequate and about the possible
negative reactions of other people
» Can lead to anger and dissatisfaction with oneself

– What constitutes “attractiveness?”
• Judgments of one’s own attractiveness may not be similar
to others’ judgments, but two people usually agree when
they are asked to rate a third person.
– Greatest agreement occurs when men are judging how attractive
a women is.
– However, it is not easy to ascertain the precise factors that
determine attractiveness ratings.
• Two different procedures are used to determine the facial
features that are associated with attractiveness.
– Identifying attractive individuals and discovering what
characteristics they share
– Creating a composite image of combined faces

• Perceptions of attractiveness also are affected by the
situation.
– Due to the contrast effect, what someone has been looking at
(e.g., pictures of attractive people) prior to rating the
attractiveness of a stranger influences the rating given.
– Research in bars has found that people appear more attractive to
potential partners as closing time approaches.
– Other aspects of appearance and behavior that
influence attraction
• Neatness and color of one’s clothing, observable
disabilities, actions that suggest mental illness, perceived
age, eyeglasses, and men’s facial hair

• Men’s height is perceived to be related to qualities such as
leadership and masculinity.
– People tend to elect the tallest (and most attractive) candidate
who is running for president.
• A person’s physique is related to stereotypes that affect
attraction despite no relationship between it and
personality.
– Excess fat is the least favored physique
» Obesity is stigmatized and it can be associated with someone
who is physically near a person who is obese.
» This occurs despite the fact that stereotypes associated with
weight do not result in accurate predictions about an
individual’s behavior.

• Observable differences in behavior influence attraction.
– A youthful walking style, a firm handshake, animated behavior,
active participation in discussions, and modesty are associated
with positive responses from others.
– Men who act in a dominant, authoritative, and competitive
manner in initial encounters are liked better than those who
appear submissive, noncompetitive, and less masculine.
» After subsequent interactions, men who are prosocial and
sensitive are preferred.
– People who eat healthy food are judged as more likeable and
morally superior compared to those who eat “junk food.”
• A person’s first name also plays a role in interpersonal
attraction.

– How do internet dating and chat rooms
correspond with data on the effects of physical
proximity on attraction?
– What are the origins of stereotypes regarding
people who are considered physically attractive?
– What are the problems with electing political
candidates based on superficial qualities such as
their height and attractiveness?

Interactive Determinants of Attraction
• Similarity: Birds of a Feather Flock Together
– Similarity predicts subsequent liking
• Equally true for males, females, and different age,
educational, and cultural groups
– Similarity-dissimilarity predicts attraction
• Similarity-dissimilarity effect—consistent finding that
people respond positively to indications that another
person is similar to themselves and negatively to
indications that another person is dissimilar from
themselves
– Also, similar people are judged as more intelligent, informed,
moral, and better adjusted than people who are dissimilar.

– Proportion of Similarity—number of specific
topics on which two people express similar views
divided by the total number of topics discussed
• An exception to the similarity effect is in regards to the
ideal self.
– Finding out that someone is closer to one’s ideal self could be
threatening

– Explaining the effect of similarity-dissimilarity on
attraction
• Balance Theory—formulations of Heider (1958) and of
Newcomb (1961) that specify the relationships among
(1) an individual’s liking for another person, (2) his or
her attitude about a given topic, and (3) the other
person’s attitude about the same topic
– Balance (liking plus agreement) results in a positive emotional
state
– Imbalance (liking plus disagreement) results in a negative state
and a motivation to restore balance
– Nonbalance (nonliking plus either agreement or disagreement)
results in indifference

• A second level of explanation is provided by Festinger’s
(1954) social comparison theory.
– Similar others provide consensual validation of one’s beliefs.
• A third approach is an evolutionary perspective that
focuses on the adaptive value of associating with similar
others.
– Much hatred of others is based on aspects which are dissimilar
to oneself
» It is proposed that people may be programmed to fear and
hate people who are different from themselves.
» If these reactions were adaptive in the distant past, today
they form the basis for prejudice, hate crimes, terrorism,
and genocide.

• Attraction: Progressing from Bits and Pieces to
an Overall Picture
– Affect-Centered Model of Attraction—conceptual
framework in which attraction is assumed to be
based on positive and negative emotions, which
can be aroused directly by another or simply
associated with another and can be enhanced or
mitigated by cognitive processes
• Initial dislike of a stranger may be based on affect, but
justification of that affect and behaviors based on it are a
result of cognitive factors.

• Mutual Evaluations: Reciprocal Liking or
Disliking
– Mutual liking is an intermediate step between
initial attraction and establishing a relationship.
• People enjoy being evaluated positively by others even
when the evaluation is inaccurate or insincere.
• First indicators of attraction can be nonverbal: sitting
next to someone, maintaining eye contact.
– People dislike those who dislike and negatively
evaluate them.

– Why do people continue to believe that opposites
attract despite little or no evidence of this in their
daily lives?
– Why are similarity and mutual liking important
precursors to attraction?
• Why do they matter as much as they do to people?
• What needs do they serve?

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