PSY BEH 118D Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Homophily, Physical Attractiveness, Sociobiology
16 May 2018
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Week 7 Discussion
• attraction
o the girl next door
▪ you are much more likely to meet and be attracted to the boy or girl next
door
▪ why?
▪ mere exposure effect: repeated exposure to any stimulus, including a
person, leads to greater liking for that stimulus
o birds of a feather
▪ we tend to like people who are similar to us
• who are the same
o age
o race or ethnicity
o economic and social status
▪ similarity on these social characteristics = homophily
▪ choosing partners who match in social and personal characteristics
(especially similar attitudes) = matching phenomenon
o interpersonal marketplace
▪ whom we are attracted to and pair off with depends a lot on
• how much we think we have to offer
• how much we think we can “buy” with it
▪ in this market
• women’s worth is based on their physical beauty
• men’s worth is based on their success
o explaining our preferences
▪ reinforcement theory: Byrne’s Law of Attraction
• we tend to like people who give us rewards and to dislike people
who give us punishments
▪ sociobiology: sexual strategies theory
• we prefer young, attractive people because they are likely to be
healthy and fertile
• men prefer women who are sexually faithful
• women prefer men with resources who will invest in them and
their children
• love
o intimacy: quality of relationships characterized by commitment, feelings of
closeness and trust, and self-disclosure
▪ self disclosure: involves telling your partner some personal things about
yourself
• closely related to satisfaction with the relationship
• self-disclosure of emotion was more closely related to intimacy
o triangular theory of love
▪ intimacy – emotional component
• feelings of closeness or bondedness
▪ passion – motivational component
• includes physical attraction
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