PSY220H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10: Random Assignment, Interpersonal Attraction, Equity Theory
Document Summary
Human beings can find themselves romantically attracted to all sorts of people: people of the same or different sex, people from different cultures, and people spanning a considerable age range. Many studies of relationships are not true experiments with random assignment of participants to different conditions. Instead, most studies use longitudinal methods to examine the dynamics that unfold over time in pre-existing relationships. This kind of research faces the problem of self-selection. When participants select their own conditions (i. e. choose the type of relationships they"re in), it is hard to differentiate between the causes in behaviour or relationship outcomes. People with many good relationships are less likely to become sick, have greater psychological well-being, and live longer. Relationships are as important as smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, and low physical activity when it comes to predicting one"s lifespan. Humans have a biological need to belong. We need social relationships, just as we need food, water, and air.