PSY 345 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Ostracism, Wodaabe, Feral Child
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Attraction, Rejection, and Intimate Relationships, cont.
Variables that Predict Experiences of More or Less Attraction, cont.
2. Perceiver Factors
o How does the perceiver’s social interactions and social cognitions change how
they find other people attractive?
▪ Physically unattractive perceivers tend to view targets as more attractive
than physically attractive perceivers (Montoya, 2008)
o Similar to the idea that people are attracted to others who they see as equal in
physical attractiveness, perceivers who are less physically attractive have lower
standards for a potential partner than physically attractive perceivers
o These lower/higher standards of attractiveness that a perceiver has for other
people are defined as comparison standards
o One study showed that a group of male participants (who watched a TV show
with “beautiful” women) rated pictures of females afterwards as less attractive.
This was not the case after watching a television show that did not feature
“beautiful” women, and vice versa. This effect is observed in relations to a man’s
wife as well, when men viewed nude photographs of female models
o Women tend to experience less drastic changes in attraction level than men do.
Men were observed more frequently accepting dates when approached.
Moreover, men were much more likely to “go home with” or “go to bed” with
someone when approached than women
o In fact, the misattribution of arousal is a way in which feeling the emotion of
fear can be confused with attraction. The research suggests that this effect should
be greater in men than for women (if men are more agreeable to romantic
involvement in general)
o This effect could explain why trying to keep a relationship a secret from others,
cheating on a loved one, or even watching a scary movie can increase the
attractiveness of a person’s partner
o Alcohol consumption can lessen a person’s awareness of their “self,” which could
lead them to be less evaluative of other people. This could explain why people
who use alcohol report higher ratings of attractiveness for other people
3. Relationship Factors
o Important predictors of attraction involve the social responses that occur between
a target’s and a perceiver, as well as the quality of these interactions between the
two partners
o Much research into relational factors between people suggests that the more
similarities people share (personality, ethnicity, emotional sensitivity, etc.) the
more positive their social interactions are perceived to be, vice versa. These
interpersonal dynamics are important predictors of both sexual and non-sexual
attraction
o For example
▪ Some research has shown that people have more functional, positive
relationships with others who have similar letters in their names
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▪ Individuals with depression are more likely to be attracted to other
individuals with depression
▪ Liking similar music, movies, politics, attitudes, etc. generally predicts
that a person will be more attracted to another person who has similar
attitudes towards these areas
▪ Matching ethnicity and Socio-Economic Status are also key demographics
that increase the likelihood that two individuals will find each other
attractive
o However, this “similarity effect” is not always the case, especially in relationships
where a person who demonstrates more dominant, aggressive behaviors and a
person who demonstrates more submissive, passive behaviors tend to also show
greater attraction to each other
o One type of interpersonal dynamic that is studied more often than any other
feature of attraction between individuals is the reciprocity of attraction…
o Perceivers tend to like targets who like them more, rather than targets who do not
o This idea is complimented by the theory that people perceive the world around
them with a self-serving bias – we actively pay attention to things in the world
that confirm our own beliefs and perceive/remember positive qualities about
ourselves more clearly than negative qualities about ourselves
o This makes sense (in terms of attraction) – we pay more attention to those who
like us, and in turn we are attracted to them because out self-serving bias attends
to positive information they offer about ourselves
o Moreover, since we pay more attention to people who like us more, we respond in
a way to them that makes them think that we like them
o Non-conscious Mimicry – this effect was observed when participants like other
participants more when they copied their behaviors, compared to participants that
didn’t copy their behaviors
o Some research even suggests that this copying tendency is largely involuntary,
and people who report liking another person tend to demonstrate similar
behaviors to that person
o The idea of transference was first described by Sigmund Freud, but later applied
to research on attraction/relationships…
▪ Perceiver’s often apply aspects of a relationship with one target to a
perceiver’s relationship with another person. For example, if someone
you are attracted to likes a certain type of music, you may begin to like
that type of music, and in turn might be attracted to other individuals who
like that type of music
o Instrumentality is the idea that a perceiver might find a target more attractive if
that target is able to further the perceiver’s goals/motivations
▪ This could explain why a person with material wealth is often perceived as
more attractive than someone without material wealth. Even if the person
with material wealth is less physically attractive, this access to
wealth/power is generally seen by others as a quality in a partner that is
more likely to further their own goals
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o Shared communal norms (or similarity in behavioral responses) are seen as more
attractive… this highly depends on cultural practices and what is seen as a
“normal” exchange of behavior between people
o This is why when a target responds to a perceiver in a way that is “natural” or
matches the expectations of the perceiver, the level of attraction between both
individuals is likely to increase
o This is likely due to the fact that aspects of both individuals are already shared,
and this similarity requires less cognitive effort to attend to
o Relationships with people who share cultural norms/practices with you require
less of your cognitive energy – and you like them for this
4. Environmental Factors
o A person’s social network can be an influential force in how a perceiver views a
target as more/less attractive
o Even though living like “Romeo and Juliet” might seem to enhance the level of
attraction between two people, when a person’s family/community disapproves of
a romantic partner, attraction usually decreases. Consequently, perceivers report
“greater attraction to a given target when members of their social network
approve of the relationship”
o Cultural norms – are important influences on how partners are attracted to each
other. A majority of societies in the world set norms that women are more
attracted to romantic partners who are older than them and have good earning
prospects, compared to men who are more attracted to younger women (in
general) who are also physically attractive
o However, this widespread cultural norm is less evident in cultures where the
power balance between men and women are more equal
o For example: In the Wodaabe culture, men are prized for their beauty (height,
white teeth, and wide eyes). Each year, they compete in a ceremony to marry the
most powerful eligible women, who act as judges in this beauty ceremony for
men they wish to marry
o In addition, the amount of food that exists in a certain culture can influences
men’s preferences for women’s body shapes
o Across most cultures, males prefer women with higher BMI’s to women with
lower BMI’s when food is limited, while women with lower BMI’s are more
highly desirable as mates when food is readily available
o This brings to mind the idea of scarcity. The lack of an available resource in a
given community can generally increase the attractiveness of an individual with
that resource
o For many years, China had strict birth control laws enacted to ensure one child for
each family. Many families would “selectively” have only one male child.
However, in modern China there are as many as 30 million bachelors, but not
enough bachelorettes. Simply being a woman in China is a scarcity in itself, and
attraction level might depend quite a bit on gender in this environment
o A funny example of perceived scarcity is when researchers asked people at a bar
to report the attractiveness of opposite-sex patrons at different times of night.
Perceivers rated targets in the bar as increasingly attractive as time progressed,
and highest right before the bar closed
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Document Summary
This was not the case after watching a television show that did not feature. This effect is observed in relations to a man"s wife as well, when men viewed nude photographs of female models: women tend to experience less drastic changes in attraction level than men do. Men were observed more frequently accepting dates when approached. These interpersonal dynamics are important predictors of both sexual and non-sexual attraction: for example, some research has shown that people have more functional, positive relationships with others who have similar letters in their names. Greater attraction to a given target when members of their social network approve of the relationship : cultural norms are important influences on how partners are attracted to each other. The lack of an available resource in a given community can generally increase the attractiveness of an individual with that resource: for many years, china had strict birth control laws enacted to ensure one child for each family.
