Transcript Unit 06 Origins of Attraction Info - Virginia Beach City Public Schools

Origins of Attraction
Proximity is geographic nearness or how physically close you are to
someone/something. One of the most powerful predictors of whether any 2
people are friends is their proximity to each other. In terms of attraction (who we
like and who we love), functional distance is very important in regard to
proximity. Functional distance is how often people’s paths cross. So, when we are
located geographically close to someone else and we go to the same places at the
same time (a grocery store, the gym, etc.), then we can predict that we would be
more likely to interact with them, like them, and form a friendship or romantic
relationship. Most people marry someone who lives in the same neighborhood,
works at the same company, or has been in the same class as them. Proximity
leads to liking someone because of availability and anticipation of interaction.
Availability means that someone who lives in another city or goes to another
school who you never meet is not available for you to get to know or be attracted
to, therefore their lack of proximity results in less chance for a relationship.
Anticipatory liking is when we like someone more just because we are anticipating
interaction with them. So, in this case, we don’t even have to meet the person
yet, but the anticipation of interacting with them actually boosts our
attraction/rating of them.
Lucille Nahemow and M. Powell Lawton (1975) found in their study of friendship networks
of residents in Dyckman Houses, a public housing project, that proximity is “a powerful
force in friendship formation.” Their study was to find out under what circumstances
people make friends of strangers. Nahemow and Lawton predicted that the proximity
effect would increase significantly with age and that both similarity and proximity would
contribute to friendship choices. The apartment housing they looked at included several
different apartment buildings, including one elderly home community. They assumed that
older people would have more friends who lived closer to them because they would be
restricted to commuting shorter distances. This study took place by interviewing residents
in three 14-story buildings with 12 apartments to each floor. Residents were asked who
their best friends were, if they lived in the same building, where they met and how often
they saw each other. Interviewers also took note of the apartment number, age, sex and
race of the friends listed by Dyckman Houses residents. It was found that the proximity
effect is an important factor in who is to become a friend. Researchers found that 88
percent of the closest friend mentioned lived in the same building as the respondent and
almost half lived on the same floor. This study confirmed that both physical distance and
functional distance contribute to whom residents befriend. Fifty two percent of the
residents who responded to the interview stated that they met their friends in “the
hallways, elevators, and entrance areas of their own building.” Lawton also found proximity
was not a factor that just affected the elderly, 37 percent of the younger residents also
indicated that their best friend was someone who lived on the same floor.
http://www.lawsofattraction.com/
psychology/proximity/
The evolutionary explanation of attraction considers the
goal of selecting the best mate and protecting the
offspring after mating to ensure survival of one’s genes.
Simply put, the purpose of attraction is to procreate, to
ensure that an individual's genes are passed on to the next
generation. Individuals are attracted to traits that will
ensure a healthy mate with good genes. Individuals may
be attracted to characteristics that would predict a mate
that could provide for and protect the offspring. For
example, Buss (1979) found that in multiple cultures
around the world, men generally desire a younger woman
(more fertile, can bear more children) and women desire
an older man (has more resources to protect the child).
Clarke and Hatfield Study
http://bit.ly/1fUGNs3
Similiarity refers to shared characteristics. Research shows that we
are attracted to people who are like us. Friends, engaged couples,
and spouses are far more likely than people randomly paired to
share common attitudes, beliefs, and values. The greater the
similarity between husband and wife, the happier they reported
being, and the less likely they were to divorce. Multiple studies have
been done to gauge many different characteristics and the findings
continue to reveal that we form friendships and romantic
relationships more often with people who are similar to us. This is
true for attitudes, beliefs, age, religion, race, whether or not you
smoke, socioeconomic status, level of education, height,
intelligence, and appearance.
http://www.lawsofattraction.com/
psychology/similarity/
As children, we have a need to form attachments to caregivers. The
parent/child relationship is very influential in our development.
Some researchers propose that there is a resemblance between
childhood attachments/relationships and later adult romantic
relationships. Our past experiences and past relationships can
impact our future relationships. So, our past experiences can greatly
affect who we are attracted to and how we form our relationships.
For example, sometimes when we encounter someone new that
reminds us of a significant other in the past, we may be attracted to
this new person because of our association with the past partner.
This is called transference.
http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?f
a=search.displayRecord&uid=198721950-001
In this study, participants identified two of their
past significant others – one that they disliked
(ended on bad terms) and one that they liked (had
no hard feelings toward after the break up) and
provided short descriptions of them. Two weeks
later the participants learned about a new person
with whom they were told they were to interact.
The description of the person was rigged by the
experimenter to resemble their descriptions of the
past significant others. When the participants
interacted with the person, their attitude towards
him/her was shifted to resemble their attitude to
the matching past significant other.
Chemical substances in the brain make us obsessed, addicted, or in
love with a specific person causing us to alter our behavior. These
chemical substances are hormones and neurotransmitters that can
work to increase the bond or level of attachment between individuals.
For example, oxytocin is one specific chemical that has been shown to
play a role in attraction and attachment. The release of oxytocin
deepens and intensifies feelings of attachment. Oxytocin is released
during sex to solidify the bond between romantic partners. Oxytocin
is also released during childbirth to strengthen the mother/child
relationship. Serotonin and dopamine are neurotransmitters that can
also play a large role in attraction and relationships. Dopamine is
involved in reward motivated behavior. Research shows that those in
love have similar activity in the dopamine system as those that are
high on cocaine.
Oxytocin and Prairie Voles
http://www.nature.com/news/gene-switchesmake-prairie-voles-fall-in-love-1.13112
Mazaritti (1999): Found that people in love have lower
levels of serotonin. Mazaritti studied 60 individuals - 20
were men and women who had fallen in love in the last 6
months; 20 others had suffered from obsessivecompulsive disorder; and the other 20 were healthy
individuals who were not in love (control group). By
analyzing blood samples from the lovers, Mazaritti
discovered that low serotonin levels in new lovers were
the same as those with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The
study established a possible connection between romantic
love and low levels of serotonin in the blood.
Familiarity is how much we have been exposed to
something or how many times we have seen/heard it.
Social psychology explains that when we are more familiar
with something, we tend to like it more. This seems to be
true also for attraction to other people – we are more
attracted to and more likely to form a relationship with
those who are familiar to us.
http://www.lawsofattraction.com/
psychology/exposure/