Topic Summaries

Factors affecting attraction

A-Level > Psychology > AQA > A-Level Psychology Topic Summaries > Relationships > Factors affecting attraction
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Addiction

  • Self-disclosure: (👥 Jourard 1971) when we get into a relationship, we are excited to learn about our new partner and reveal things to them about our fears, hopes, dreams, attitudes, and interests. You need three things for self-disclosure:
    • Social penetration theory: this is the process of revealing our inner self.It’s important as it shows trust and commitment. As people share more sensitive information with their partners, they penetrate more deeply into each other’s lives. This leads to a greater trust and a deeper understanding of each other.
    • Breadth and depth: the topics of conversation become broader as people trust each other, becoming deeper with more trust. If too much is shared too soon, the relationship may not last. Likewise, if too little is shared over time, the relationship is unlikely to last.
    • Reciprocity of self-disclosure: we will feel too vulnerable with our partner if self-disclosure isn’t reciprocated.
  • Physical attractiveness: there is an evolutionary explanation for why physical attractiveness is so important:
    • Sexual selection: reveal clues about our health and quality of genes. 👥 Shackleford and Larson (1997) found that people with symmetrical faces are seen as more attractive because it is a good signal of genetic fitness. People also tend to be attracted to ‘baby faces’ as they trigger a caring instinct in us. These ideas are universal across all cultures as humans want to find a genetically suitable partner.
    • The Halo effect: 👥 Dion et al.(1972) found that more physically attractive people are seen as kinder, smarter, stronger, and more successful. Children that were more conventionally attractive were seen as better behaved than less attractive ones. This is because physical attractiveness can create a metaphorical halo that makes us view someone in a more favourable light even when assessing unrelated traits like intelligence or empathy.
  • The matching hypothesis: people are attracted to those seen as having a similar level of attractiveness to us.We first asses our own value and then attempt to find a partner with a similar attraction.Even if we are attracted to someone of ‘higher’ attractiveness, we will try to get a partner we view as in our league.
    • 👥 Walster et al.’s (1966) study challenged this by experimenting with 350 students attending a dance.4 student judges were secretly selected to assess the student’s level of attractiveness. They were randomly paired for the dance and then asked if they would like to see them again. This study didn’t support the theory as everyone preferred the more attractive people, not their matched pair.
  • Filter theory: 👥 Kerchoff and Davis (1962) outlined 3 main factors which filter our choice to a field of desirables:
    • Social demography: the range of factors that influence the chances of meeting our partner in the first place (e.g.location, schedule). We’re more likely to meet people with a similar social demography to us as we like being around people who are socially and culturally homogenous to us.
    • Similarity in attitudes: values and attitudes are very important in early stages of a relationship as people want to agree on core values and are unlikely to pursue a relationship if there are huge discrepancies in attitudes. This helps to encourage self-disclosure in the early stages.
    • Complementarity: this is where partners fulfil each other’s needs and complement/balance each other – one may have certain traits that the other doesn’t. This factor is important in long-term relationships.

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