PSYC 2600 Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Party Tonight, Decision Points, Earlobe

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Week 10 Notes: Personality and Social Interaction
Personality interacts with situations in three ways:
1. Selection
2. Evocation
3. Manipulation
Selection
- People choose to enter some situations and avoid others
- These forms of situation selection can hinge on personality dispositions and how we
view ourselves
Example: should I go to this party tonight? Mate selection
- Social selections are decision points that direct us to choose one path and avoid another
These decisions are based on personality characteristics
Personality Characteristics Desired in a Marriage Partner
- Mutual attraction/love is the most desired characteristic
- Dependable character, emotional stability, pleasing disposition (conscientiousness,
neuroticism, agreeableness)
Assortative Mating for Personality: The Search for the Similar
Two fundamentally competing scientific theories for who is attracted to whom:
1. Complementary needs theory: people are attracted to those who have different
personality dispositions than they have
Example: a person who is dominant wants a mate who they can control
2. Attraction Similarity Theory: people are attracted to those who have similar personality
characteristics
Example: a person who is extraverted also wants a mate who is extraverted
- There is overwhelming support for the attraction similarity theory and no support for
the complementary needs theory
People are drawn to those who share their personalities
Assortative Mating: people are married to people who are similar to themselves
- Couples have physical characteristic similarities: earlobe length, height, weight
Do People get the Mates they want? Are they Happy?
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- People do seem to get mates they want in terms of personality
- People are satisfied in their marriages if their partners have high Agreeableness, low
Neuroticism, and high Openness to Experience
- If the ideal personality does not match the actual personality of the mate this does not
affect marriage satisfaction, only those three traits do
- People married to disagreeable partners are least satisfied with their marriage and are
most at risk of getting divorced
- Having a partner with high conscientiousness makes people happier with their marriage
- Neuroticism is linked with marriage dissatisfaction
Honeymoon Effect: ratings of spouse’s personalities become increasingly negative over time
Personality and the Selective Breakup of Couples
Violation of Desires Theory: breakups should occur more often when one’s desires are violated
- People who are married to partners who lack desired characteristics (dependability,
emotional stability) are more likely to get divorced
Neuroticism: the most consistent personality predictor of marital instability and divorce
- People with emotional stability have high levels of jealousy
- Low conscientiousness, especially in men is a predictor of divorce
- Low agreeableness predicts divorce, less evidence for this
- Dissimilarity predicts divorce, as well as lacking the desired characteristics
Shyness and the Selection of Risky Situations
Shyness: a tendency to feel tense, worried or anxious during social interactions or even when
anticipating a social interaction
- More than 90% of the population experience shyness at some point during their lives
Effects on Social Selection: during high school and early adulthood shy individuals tend to avoid
social situations,, resulting in a form of isolation
- Shy women are more likely to avoid going to the gynecologist
- Shy women avoid choosing risky gambles
Other Personality Traits and the Selection of Situations
- Empathetic: people are more likely to volunteer
- Extraversion: people select more friends
- High Sensation Seeking: risky behaviour
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Document Summary

Personality interacts with situations in three ways: selection, evocation, manipulation. People choose to enter some situations and avoid others. These forms of situation selection can hinge on personality dispositions and how we view ourselves. Social selections are decision points that direct us to choose one path and avoid another. Mutual attraction/love is the most desired characteristic. Dependable character, emotional stability, pleasing disposition (conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness) Assortative mating for personality: the search for the similar. Two fundamentally competing scientific theories for who is attracted to whom: complementary needs theory: people are attracted to those who have different personality dispositions than they have. Example: a person who is dominant wants a mate who they can control: attraction similarity theory: people are attracted to those who have similar personality characteristics. Example: a person who is extraverted also wants a mate who is extraverted. There is overwhelming support for the attraction similarity theory and no support for the complementary needs theory.

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