Summary
1.1C People in Groups Summary Problem 8
- Course
- Institution
This is a summary of the literature for Problem 8 of course 1.1C People in Groups.
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
elenakuhn
Content preview
1Problem 8
1. What is love & relationships?
Relationships
• Exchange relationships: participants expect/desire strict mutual benefits in their interactions
• Communal relationship: participants expect/desire mutual responsiveness to each other’s needs,
without regard whether the have given/received a benefit
Love
• Combination of often powerful emotions, thoughts, actions & usually associated with intimate
relationships
Two broad types of love
• Companionate love: caring & affection for another person that usually arises from sharing time
together
o Combines feeling of friendly affection & deep attachment
o No physiological arousal
• Passionate (romantic) love: state of intense absorption in another person that involves physiological
arousal
Three-factor Theory of Love (Hatfield & Walster)
1. Cultural determinant that acknowledges love as a state (concept of love)
2. Presence of appropriate love object
3. Emotional arousal felt when interacting with/ thinking of appropriate love object
Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love
• Three factors that play a role in love
o Passion: roughly equivalent to sexual attraction
o Intimacy: feelings of warmth, closeness, sharing
o Commitment: resolve to main relationship even in moments of crisis
• When all three factors are present → consummate love (ultimate form of love)
, 2
2. What factors influence people falling in love (circumstances, personal dispositions
etc.)
è does it happen consciously?
Propinquity/ proximity effect
• the more we see and interact with people, the more likely they are to become our friends
• Study by Festinger, Schachter & Back (1950)
o Tracked friendship formation in apartment buildings of MIT
o Asked residence to name their three closest friends in the buildings
o 65 % of mentioned friends live in the same building
o 41 % was friends with their next-door-neighbour
o 10% was friends with someone who lived at the end of the hall
→ attraction & proximity also relies on “functional distance” (with who will you cross path the most
due to architectural design)
• Proximity works because of mere exposure effect: the more exposure we have to a stimulus the more
apt we are to like it
• The more often we see people, the more familiar they become, the more friendship develops
• Exception: if you do not like the person from the beginning, your dislike will only grow
• Study by Back, Schmukle & Egloff (2008)
o Assigned German students to a random seat at the beginning of the year
o People who sat next to each other had higher initial attractions scores from the beginning
o At the end of the year neighbours were still more likely to be friends
• Reinforcement-affect model: model of attraction that postulates that we like people who are
around when we experience a positive feeling
Similarity
• Similarity draws people together
• The more similar someone’s opinions are to yours, the more you will like the person
• Study by Newcomb (1961)
o Randomly assigned male students at university to be roommates in dormitory
o Results: Men became friends with people who were demographically similar, had similar
attitudes, values & similar personalities
• Similar interests & experiences draw us to people
o We choose to enter into certain social situations where we then find similar others (e.g.
university)
• People are drawn to other’s who have a similar appearance
o Study by Mackinnon, Jordan & Wilson (2011)
§ Analysed the seating arrangement of college students in library computer lab
§ Students who were glasses sat next to people with glasses
§ Students with similar appearance sat closer to each other
• People are drawn to people who are genetically similar to them
o Study by Christakis & Fowler
§ Found that participants shared more DNA with friends than with stranger
Physical Attractiveness
• People are drawn to people they find physical attractive
• Study by Hatfield
o Randomly matched incoming students at university for a blind date
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller elenakuhn. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $3.77. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
67096 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now