IB Psychology HL - Relationships - Examine Biological, Psychological, And Social Origins Of Attraction

when one person experiences interest in forming a relationship with another person

assumes that attraction has a survival purpose

• partner selection based on love (Fisher et al, 2003)

• partner selection based on genetic advantage (Wedekind et al, 1995)

• based on the idea that humans have 3 motivational systems: attraction, sex drive, and attachment

• the interaction of the 3 systems produces the experience of the emotions, motivations, and behaviours associated with the concept of love

• attraction: focused attention on a specific mate, obsessive following, possessive mate-guarding, motivation to win a preferred mating partner, etc; evolutionary function is to select one favored partner

• sex drive: craving for sexual gratification; evolutionary function is to produce offspring

• attachment: grooming, separation anxiety, shared parental chores, etc; evolutionary function is for parents to remain together long enough to complete parental duties and experience it as rewarding

study: Fisher et al. (2003)

• conducted fMRI scans on several couples who reported having been in love for over 7 months

• filled a questionnaire to investigate how each felt about their relationship

• during scanning, they were asked to first look at a photograph of their beloved, then perform a distraction task counting backwards, then finally asked to look at a photograph of a neutral acquaintance

• when participants looked at their lover, increased activity was seen in dopamine-rich brain areas (associated with reward, motivation, and goal orientation)

• different characteristics may represent ideal traits (e.g. fertility, ambition, complementary immune system)
  study: Wedekind et al (1995)

• studied whether females could identify males who had a genetic make-up which, in combination with her own, would boost the immune system of potential children

• men were asked to sleep with a shirt for two nights and to keep it in a plastic bag (without washing)

• women were later asked to smell 7 different shirts and rate the agreeableness of the smell

• 3 were from men with a similar immune system, 3 were from men with a dissimilar immune system (best match in terms of genes), and one was a control

• found that women preferred odours of men with a dissimilar immune system

• this supports evolutionary explanations of mate selection in humans

• empirical support for biological systems being involved in attraction

• but that doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t other factors affecting attraction

• while brain-imaging tech do show specific activity in attraction, the brain is very complex and neuro-imaging data can only describe (not explain) attraction

• also very difficult to test evolutionary theories

• evolutionary theories cannot explain same-sex attraction

assumes that psychological events (e.g. fear) interact with biological processes (e.g. arousal), leading to attraction

• similarity-attraction hypothesis (Burne, 1971)

Burne (1971):

• people are more likely to be attracted to individuals who are perceived to be similar to themselves
  e. g. similar attitudes and values

• because this validates our own attitudes/values and boosts our selfƒ-esteem, which leads to attraction

study: Markey and Markey (2007)

• single undergraduate students completed a questionnaire, self-reporting their personality and describing the personality of their romantic ideal

• all participants wanted a romantic partner with similar traits to themselves

• it appears that similarity in a potential partner is important but maybe this ideal partner is difficult to find

• follow-up study found that that romantic couples who experienced high levels ofƒ love and harmony were
  more likely to consist oƒf one individual who was dominant and one who was submissive

• indicates that complementary personality factors can positively affect a relationship’s harmony

Morry (2007):

• agrees with the idea that people are attracted to those that they perceive as similar

• this perceived similarity may not necessarily be accurate (maybe because they project their own attitudes onto them)

assumes that social factors (e.g. proximity) can lead to attraction

• proximity theory of attraction (Festinger et al., 1950)

simply being physically around another individual enhances the probability ofƒ becoming ƒfriends

study: Festinger et al. (1950)

• studied friendship patterns at a university housing complex

• noted that opportunities to bump into each other regularly increased chances of friendships developing

• this suggests that physical proximity creates opportunities for interaction, which in turn increases familiarity

• Zajonc (1968): mere exposure effƒƒect is enough to increase liking