Psychology 137C: Intimate Relationships Week 3, Lecture 2: Attraction Reminders: Seriously, start thinking about your paper, due May 19th. Writing it the night before is no fun.
Three Questions Why do we like other people? Why are we romantically attracted to other people? How do we form intimate relationships with other people?
The Reward Theory of Liking We like people who are likely to reward us. Ability to reward us: Proximity/familiarity Personality/pratfall effect Similarity/phantom other technique Motivation to reward us: Reciprocity The importance of discrimination
From Like to “Really Like” What’s the first and easiest thing you can notice about a potential partner? How much does physical attractiveness matter? The computer dating studies The matching hypothesis Why is physical attractiveness so powerful?
Reward Theory Revisited Are we ever attracted to people who don’t reward us? Why does this ever happen?
From Attraction to Relationship Do our preferences predict our mating behavior? The Speed Dating Study The Twin Study Why is starting a relationship different from choosing furniture?
The Dance of Mate Selection Signaling proceptivity Behavioral interdependence Disclosure reciprocity The dance is highly sensitive to context! Dutton and Aron (1974)
Final Thoughts Is attraction like chemistry, or like the weather? Does knowing how relationships start help us to understand how they succeed and fail over time?