Attraction and Relationships

What are the social factors that influence interpersonal attraction? Discuss in relation to relevant psychological theories and studies

Although many books have been written about communication and connection in relationships, there has been a book that addresses precisely this wonderful process as has James C. Petersen in his book: Why Don’t We Listen Better? And it is precisely the way in which the parts he divided the book that takes the reader to a better understanding of what the personal relationships connections through communications are concerned.

Information is exchanged between two or more people every day. Talking face to face is the most common form of communication, although it can also be done through body language or electronics. Bad habits, interrupting for example, can irritate the other person and cause friction in a relationship. Deborah Tannen’s “Sex, Lies, and Communication” is effective because men and women converse differently and adapting to one another’s styles can be difficult.

It is well-known that diversity is common amongst individuals as each varies in their physical appearances, personality, values and beliefs. A person’s individuality can be shaped through many factors such as cognitive process, biological process, psychological origins of attraction, social perspective attributions, etc. Cognitive origins of attraction is the acquiring and understanding of thoughts and senses and the perceptions of the individual’s own experiences. Biological process is the idea in which sexual attraction (for the purpose of gene survival) is the driving force behind choosing a partner (Charles Darwin). Psychological origins of attraction assumes that people are more likely to be attracted tit e individuals who are perceived to be similar to themselves. Social perspective attributions is the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behaviour in social situations. Due to these many factors, each decision an individual makes is different from that of another. This individuality is relied upon when a person chooses others to form a relationship with, including a romantic one. The following studies/research have been provided to explore whether the differences in gender and the types processes may have an effect on decision-making when multiple options are available.

What makes us attracted to certain people more than others? The science of Psychology explains how people become attracted to one another. Certainly some aspects of beauty are cultural; fashion and trends change over time. Also, society and the media influence us into thinking what traits are attractive. Some reasons for attraction have to do with familiarity and proximity. Biology also plays a role in determining what traits we will possess. Biology and Psychology work hand and hand to help us pick our mates.

The researchers in these two studies wanted to test the hypothesis that sexual attraction increases during states of high emotion, such as hate or aggression. The researcher used questionnaires containing pictures from the Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT) in the two studies. The questionnaires were given to forty different males by the same attractive female confederate. The female confederate distributed these questionnaires in two different settings; one was a highly emotional setting and the other was a minimal emotional setting. The two experiments that I will be discussing were designed to test the idea that an attractive female is seen as more attractive by males who encounter her while they experience a strong emotion, fear, than by

communication is more likely to stay together then one that does not. A relationship with

A person might think that love is just a feeling for someone else they find attractive, and that it is just that, a feeling. However, there is a scientific reason why that person is attracted to one person, and not another. There are many contributing factors to how we are attracted to each other, three of which are pheromones, major histocompatibility complex(MHC) and genetics.

effects of electric shock on learning and pain to read. After a while, the experimenter

Communications in our relationship can stand up to challenge even under the best of circumstances. Affiliations requires thought. When all has been said in done, an amazing method for measuring believed is put into a relationship before every single generally stage and after some time that can lose its gleam.

As described by Aronson’s study on interpersonal attraction, Gain-Loss Effect in relationships suggests that increases in positive, rewarding behavior from another person have more impact on an individual constantly rewarding behavior from that person. Thus, if we take being liked as a reward, a person whose liking for us increases over time will be liked better than one who has always liked us. This is true even if the number of rewards was greater from the latter person. Likewise, losses in positive behavior have more impact than constant negative behavior from another person. Thus, a person whose esteem for us decreases over time will be disliked more than someone who has always disliked us, even if the number of negative actions were greater from the latter person. (Aronson, p.383)

EXCUTIVE SUMMARY Throughout this assignment, it will provide insist on how conflict is dialed with. This assignment will also show the different types of conflict that occur in the episode. The serious that will be used is How I Met Your Mother. This episode deals with conflict and will also show how characters approach the conflict and is able to deal with it.

A. The magazine article titled, “How to Stay Married,” begins with a story about a 68-year old woman named Cynthia. The article has a narrative style of writing in the beginning, however as one reads on, the style converts to expository. Anne Kingston, the author, begins to teach the reader by using examples of others and personal experiences to support her point.

Critical Evaluationg of Psychological Theories of Interpersonal Attraction Interpersonal Attraction suggests as attraction between people, and although it may not in terms of a romantic relationship scenario as the phrase suggests, it nethertheless suggests an important attraction to create a relationship with a particular person. It may by that we are attracted to a particular person or a social relationship because we find them pleasant or because we find life alone unpleasant or unrewarding. Schacter (1959) conducted a study in which female participants were told that they were going to receive an electric shock in a following experiment. Half of the subjects were told it would be painful and

Interpersonal attraction embodies feelings of love, like, dislike, hate, lust and admiration. It refers to positive and negative feelings towards one another. Since most people desire relationships of some form, be it platonic friendship or romance, these are common essentials, which make interpersonal attraction a major topic within social psychology. Since it is such an important topic, this essay will discuss what attraction is and what determines it. Social traits are important aspects in attraction and according to Hume (1757), attraction is biased since it is 'in the eye of the beholder'. However, researchers have defined attraction objectively through a variety of social factors and theories and answered the question “what draws us into these "relationships"? “What makes another person attractive”? Researchers have identified five factors that are important in determining whether we are likely to find another person attractive. These factors are physical attractiveness, proximity, pheromones, mutual attraction or liking, similarity or complementarity of interest and beliefs.