Chapter 11 - Attraction and Exclusion The Need to Belong Attraction: Who Likes Whom? Rejection This is an overview of the topics of the chapter. Before beginning the chapter there is a slide based on the chapter introduction that can be used to stimulate classroom discussion.

Attraction and Exclusion Anything that draws two or more people together Social acceptance People like you and include you in their groups Rejection (Social exclusion) People exclude you from their groups

Tradeoffs - Testosterone A Blessing and a Curse Testosterone is a hormone associated with masculinity Testosterone is a mixed blessing High testosterone men are more exciting, but less reliable Interested in exploring new places and less prone to stay at home Technology Tip: “Feminine Males More Attractive” is a student-friendly research review published by the BBC on testosterone, feminine versus masculine faces, and perceived attractiveness (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4261489.stm). Technology Tip: Invite students to participate in an online study of perceived attractiveness at alittlelab.com

Tradeoffs - Testosterone A Blessing and a Curse Testosterone is better suited for finding mates than maintaining stable families Testosterone reaches peak around age 20 and declines thereafter New fathers – testosterone drops Technology Tip: Research suggests that men with highly masculine faces are perceived as less desirable as long-term mates. See research summary, “Women’s Attractiveness Judgments Track Men’s Affinity to Children, Hormone Levels” (http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/060511/attraction.shtml).

The Need to Belong Need to belong is powerful drive within human psyche Form and maintain close lasting relationships People usually form relationships easily People are reluctant to end relationships

Two ingredients to belongingness Regular social contact with others The Need to Belong Two ingredients to belongingness Regular social contact with others Close, stable, mutually intimate contact Having one without the other = partial satisfaction Technology Tip: Interpersonal contact via the Internet may be similarly unsatisfying. Research indicates that social isolation is a cost of Internet usage; see “Stanford Internet Charges a Steep Social Cost” (http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2005/02/21/daily28.html) and “Isolation Increases With Internet Use” (http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep98/isolat.html).

The Need to Belong People do not continue to form relationships Most people seek four to six close relationships Even in people-rich environments, most people form social circles of about six people

Not Belonging Is Bad for You Failure to satisfy a need to belong leads to significant health problems Death rates are higher among people without social connections People without a good social network have more physical and mental health problems

Major Antecedents of Attraction Friendships and close relationships are at or near the top of the list of what people say makes them happy; people desire to be liked by even the most casual of acquaintances.

Major Antecedents of Attraction The Person Next Door: The Propinquity Effect Propinquity Being near someone on a regular basis The finding that the more we see and interact with people, the more likely they are to become our friends. Familiarity encourages liking

Major Antecedents of Attraction The Person Next Door: The Propinquity Effect The propinquity effect works because of the mere exposure effect, the finding that the more exposure we have to a stimulus, the more apt we are to like it.

Neighbors Make Friends – and Enemies Festinger et al. (1950) Strongest predictor of friendships was propinquity Ebbesen et al. (1976) Strongest predictor of enemies was propinquity Regular contact amplifies or multiplies power of other factors Teaching Tip: Ask students to consider their closest college friends (and their least favorite people). Does propinquity seem to play a role?

Major Antecedents of Attraction Similarity As we get to know each other better, other factors besides propinquity and attractiveness come into play in determining liking. Key among these is similarity to ourselves. People who are similar are attractive because they validate our own self-worth and we assume that people who disagree with us have negative personality traits.

Major Antecedents of Attraction Similarity People change to become more similar to those with whom they interact High self-monitoring – maximize each social situation Low self-monitoring – interested in permanent connections and feelings

Major Antecedents of Attraction Similarity Spouses are similar in many respects IQ, physical attractiveness, education, SES Couples more similar in attractiveness more likely to progress to committed relationship Matching hypothesis People tend to pair up with others of similar attractiveness

Major Antecedents of Attraction Similarity As cultures progress and form large, complex groups, more need for complementarity Risks in joining a new group People tend to look for similarity

Major Antecedents of Attraction Reciprocity One of the most potent determinants of our liking someone is if we believe that that person likes us. If we believe somebody else likes us, we will be a more likable person in their presence; this will lead them to actually like us more, which leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Major Antecedents of Attraction Reciprocity Liking begets liking (reciprocity) Mimicking increases liking If someone likes you, initially it is very favorable, but if that liking is not returned, it can be a burden

Major Antecedents of Attraction Reciprocity A person’s level of self-esteem moderates how we are affected by other people liking us. Swann and colleagues (1992) have shown that people with high self-esteem like and interact with those who like them, but people with low self-esteem prefer to interact with somebody who criticized them.

Major Antecedents of Attraction The Effects of Physical Attractiveness on Liking Physical attractiveness is a major determinant of liking in studies of first impressions. Most people show preference for attractive over unattractive

Major Antecedents of Attraction The Effects of Physical Attractiveness on Liking What is beautiful is good effect Attractiveness = superiority on other traits Attractive children are more popular with peers and teachers Babies prefer attractive faces

Major Antecedents of Attraction The Effects of Physical Attractiveness on Liking Debate has existed on sex differences in the importance of physical attractiveness. Feingold (1990) reports that both sexes value attractiveness, although men value it somewhat more than women; however this difference is larger for stated attitudes and values than for actual behavior.

What is Attractive? For men, clothing represent wealth and status High wealth and status men are more attractive Body shape influences attractiveness Cultural variation in ideal body weight People agree who is beautiful but not why Evolutionary psychology - beauty in women Health and Youth

Symmetry is a powerful source of beauty What is Attractive? Symmetry is a powerful source of beauty Typicality is a source of beauty Average or composite faces are more attractive than individual faces For both sexes, this standard includes large eyes, prominent cheekbones, and a big smile. For women, a small nose and chin, narrow cheeks and high eyebrows are considered attractive; for men, a large chin is considered attractive. Technology Tip: A recent project finds a strong relationship between symmetry and dancing ability, especially for men. See details online at “Dance Symmetry Project” (http://grail.cs.washington.edu/projects/dance-symmetry/),. Technology Tip: Judith Langlois has an extensive website detailing her work on physical attractiveness. See the images of the “average” faces she used in her research along with additional details at the “Langlois Social Development Lab” (http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/group/langloislab/).

Major Antecedents of Attraction The Effects of Physical Attractiveness on Liking There is a some truth to the association between physical attractiveness and sociability This may be due to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Major Antecedents of Attraction Theories of Interpersonal Attraction: Social Exchange and Equity Social exchange theory: how people feel about a relationship depends on their perceptions of the rewards and costs of the relationship, the kind of relationship they believe they deserve (comparison level), and their chances for having a better relationship with someone else (comparison level for alternatives).

Major Antecedents of Attraction Theories of Interpersonal Attraction: Social Exchange and Equity Equity theory: people are happiest with relationships in which the rewards and costs a person experiences and the contributions he or she makes to the relationship are roughly equal to the rewards, costs, and contributions of the other person.

Major Antecedents of Attraction Theories of Interpersonal Attraction: Social Exchange and Equity Reinforcement theory Behaviors reinforced will be repeated In attraction, people like those who are rewarding to them Interpersonal rewards Do favors for someone Praise someone

Familiarity and Exposure Social allergy effect Annoying habits become more annoying over time Familiarity and repeated exposure Can make bad things worse Can encourage liking someone

Being excluded, rejected, and ignored Effects of rejection Ostracism Being excluded, rejected, and ignored Effects of rejection Inner states are almost uniformly negative Technology Tip: Kip Williams has designed a virtual game called Cyberball that can be used to reproduce the situation of the excluded Frisbee player. Three versions of the game are available for download (http://www.psy.mq.edu.au/staff/kip/cyberball.htm). Technology Tip: Lisa Zadro and Kip Williams designed a classroom activity to demonstrate the effects of ostracism (http://www.socialpsychology.org/awards/action2006hm1.htm) that received an honorable mention in the Social Psychology Network’s Action Teaching Award competition. Details are available at the Social Psychology Network home page (http://www.socialpsychology.org/).

Rejection Rejection sensitivity Expect rejection and become hypersensitive to possible rejection “You hurt my feelings” = “You don’t care about the relationship” Implicit message of rejection

Rejection Extent of hurt feelings is based on Importance of relationship How clear a sign of rejection you receive Initial reaction to rejection – numbness Interferes with psychological and cognitive functioning

Food for Thought - Social Rejection and the Jar of Cookies Fears of rejection are linked to eating binges and eating disorders Rejected people are more likely to eat fattening or junk food Rejection undermines self-regulation Baumeister, DeWall, et al., (2005) Teaching Tip: Ask students to reflect in writing on the last time they indulged in lots of ice cream, cookies, or other sweets. Can they identify a precipitating event related to their consumption? Have the class brainstorm ways to prevent such binges in the future.

Behavioral Effects of Rejection Show decreases in intelligent thought Approach new interactions with skepticism Typically less generous, less cooperative, less helpful More willing to cheat or break rules Act shortsighted, impulsive, self-destructive

Behavioral Effects of Rejection Repeated rejection can create aggression Aggression can lead to rejection Common theme in school shootings is social exclusion Technology Tip: The PBS series Frontline devoted an episode to understanding Kip Kinkel, a teenager who killed his parents and then shot and killed several classmates. Details, transcripts, and interviews are included at “The Killer at Thurston High” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kinkel/). Discussion Tip: Many traditional age college students came of age when school shootings happened with some regularity. Ask them to describe how their schools responded to such incidents and any sensitivity training they underwent in the wake of such shootings.

Loneliness Painful feeling of wanting more human contact Quantity or quality of relationships Little difference between lonely and unlonely Lonely have more difficulty understanding emotional states of others Loneliness is bad for physical health

What Leads to Social Rejection? Children are rejected by peers Because they are aggressive Because they withdraw from contact Because they are different in some way Adults are most often rejected for being different

What Leads to Social Rejection? Adults are most often rejected for being different from the rest of the group Groups reject insiders more than outsiders for the same degree of deviance Deviance within the group threatens the group’s unity

What Leads to Social Rejection? Bad apple effect One person who breaks the rules may inspire others to do the same Threat of rejection influences good behavior

Romantic Rejection and Unrequited Love Attribution theory and women refusing dates Privately held reasons were internal to the man, stable and global Reasons told the man were external, unstable and specific These reasons encourage asking again

Romantic Rejection and Unrequited Love Men are more often rejected lover; women do the rejecting more often Stalking Women are more often stalked