Romantic Relationships

1
Romantic Relationships

• Attraction
• Relationships, Love and Sex
• Breakups

2
Attraction
Propinquity Effect the finding that the more we
see and interact with people, the more likely
they are to become our friends.

• Festinger, Schacter Bach, 1950 - Westgate West
  apartment buildings (functional distance).
• Bossard, 1932 - Philedelphia marriages.
• Ebbesen, Kjos Konecni, 1976 - Effect of
  propinquity on disliking.

3
Attraction
Mere Exposure Effect the finding that the more
exposure we have to a stimulus, the more we are
apt to like it.

• Zajonc, 1968 - Words, Nonsense Syllables,
  Calligraphy
• Saegert, 1973 - Kool-Aid test.
• Moreland Beach, 1992 - Exposure in class.

4
Attraction
Moreland Beach (1992)
But, too much exposure might have negative
consequences.
5
Attraction
Similarity Do opposites attract?

• Newcomb, 1961 - Random assignment of rooming
  (illusory similarity).
• Tom Boyden, 1984 - Similarity and gay men.
• Felmee, 1995 - First attraction and break-up.
• Exception Envy and Self-Esteem Maintenance
• Tesser (1984) We tend to pick friends who are as
  accomplished as we are, but in different domains.
• Tesser (1980) Sons tend to have closer
  relationships with fathers the further the
  fathers work is from the sons field of
  accomplishment

6
Attraction
Reciprocal Liking The effect of being liked.
Target Expectation of Partner
Curtis Miller (1986)
7
Attraction
Limitations of Reciprocal Liking

• Swann, Stein-Seroussi, McNulty, 1992 - Self
  esteem and reciprocal liking.
• Jones, Stire, Shaver, Harris, 1968 -
  Ingratiation and reciprocal liking.
• Aronson Linder (1965) - People tend to like
  more a person who at first gave them negative
  feedback but then became positive toward them
  compared to a person who was always positive.

8
Physical Attractiveness

• Cuningham, 1986 - Male ratings of female photos

• Large eyes
• Small nose
• Small chin
• Prominent
• cheekbones
• Narrow cheeks
• High eyebrows
• Big Smile

9
Physical Attractiveness

• Cunningham, Barbee Pine, 1995 - Female ratings
  of male photos

• Large eyes
• Prominent
• Cheekbones
• Large Chin
• Big Smile

10
Physical Attractiveness

• Lanlois Coggman, 1990 - Universal dimensions -
  merged photographs.

11
Physical Attractiveness

• Forgas, 1995 - Matching hypothesis.

12
Physical Attractiveness
Halo Effect 2 Tendency to assume that people
with one positive characteristic might have
another.

• Landy Signall, 1974 - Ratings of essay
  accompanied by photo of author.
• Landy Aronson, 1969 - Mock juries.

13
Attraction
Physical Attractiveness

• Dion (1972) - Child Behavior Interpretations

• Snyder, Tank Berscheid (1977) - Telephone
  conversation
• Aronson, Willerman, Floyd (1966) - Competence
  and Physical Attraction

14
Attraction
Aronson, Willerman, Floyd (1966)
15
Attraction
Dutton Aron (1974) - Arousal and Attraction
16
Attraction
Dutton Aron (1974) - Arousal and Attraction

• Men on suspension bridge wrote stories that had
  more sexual imagery.
• Men on suspension bridge 4 times more likely to
  call research assistant.
• These effects only occurred if men wrote stories
  as they crossed the bridge.
• If the research assistant was male, forget it.
  No arousal effect.

Enhanced arousal to any stimulus?
17
Relationships, Love and Sex
Evolutionary explanations of love

• Survival of the fittest
• Maximize reproductive success to pass on genes
• Predicts gender differences

18
Relationships, Love and Sex
Gender differences in number of partners

• Ford Beach, 1951- Marital arrangements in
  different cultures. Polygyny gt Monogamy gt
  Polyandry
• Kinsey, 1948 - Sex surveypremarital sex and
  extramarital relationships.
• Clark, 1990 - Date or sex.
• Singer, 1985 - Abstinence experiment.

19
Relationships, Love and Sex
Gender differences in mate preference

• Buss, 1989 - Age preference in mates in 37
  cultures.
• Townsend Levy, 1990 - Cross-culturally,
  attractiveness is more important than status for
  men, while reverse is true for women.
• Hayes, 1995 - Personal ads.

20
Relationships, Love and Sex
Gender differences in the attributions sought in
mates?

• Gangestad, 1993 - Men and women both prefer
  attractive partners when disease is common.
• Hatfield, 1966 - Blind date dance.

21
Relationships, Love and Sex
Jealousy Men more upset by sexual infidelity
Women more upset by emotional infidelity

• Buunk, Angleitner, Oubal Buss, 1996 -
  Evolutionary reasons for difference.
• Harris Christenfeld, 1996 - Difference due to
  beliefs about partners.

22
Relationships, Love and Sex
Cultural influences of Sex

• Inis Beag
• Mangaia
• Sexual Revolution and Counterrevolution

23
Changing Sexual Behavior and Attitudes
Percentage Sexually Experienced
24
Breaking Up

• Akert, 1998 - Who did the dumping?
• Coolidge effect Novelty increases the number of
  sexual encounters the male rat has.
• This effect is temporary! Novelty soon wears
  off, which suggests you should Love the one
  youre with!