Download Social Psychology - David Rude, Instructor

Social Psychology
Week 6
SOCIAL INTERACTION AND
ATTRACTION
Is Social Media Destroying
Your Self-Esteem?
Considered in light of Newsweek’s recent feature
on the mounting evidence that intense internet
usage contributes to increased anxiety and
depression and even psychosis, it’s a fair and
timely question to ask.
Social Needs
• Around the world and across age-groups,
most people spend about 3/4th of their time
with other people.
• People do not merely want the presence
of others, but close ties to people who
care about them.
Benefits of Social Relations
•
•
•
•
Attachment (comfort & security)
Social integration (shared interests & attitudes)
Reassurance of Worth
Sense of Reliable Alliance (help in times of
need)
• Guidance
• Opportunity for Nurturance
Watch video
• Watch video – “Gender Differences in
Sexual Assertiveness”
• Watch video on “Rules of Attraction”
• Do activity
Loneliness
The subjective discomfort we feel when
our social relations lack some important
feature
Loneliness
• This is different from aloneness, or the
objective state of being apart from others
• People are somewhat more likely to feel
lonely when they are alone
– Especially if social norms dictate that one
“should” be with others (e.g., Saturday night)
Loneliness
• About 1 in 4 Americans reports feeling
very lonely in the past 2 weeks
• Situational loneliness occurs due to life
changes
• Chronic loneliness occurs for about 10%
of Americans regardless of the situation
• Possible biological basis
• Associated with depression, substance abuse, and
illness
Loneliness
• No segment of society is immune
• Those who are more at risk include:
– children of divorced parents
– shy people
– people with lower self-esteem
– poor people
– single people
Loneliness
• Contrary to stereotype, teenagers and
young adults are more at risk than the
elderly
• It is not clear if this is a “generation gap” in
willingness to report feelings, a function of greater
life transitions among the young, or greater social
skills and more realistic expectations among the
elderly
• What factors go into attraction
– What encourages you to go into a
social/personal relationship?
• Watch “Love – you’re doing it wrong”
• Why has the Internet become such a
popular and accepted form of relating?
• What are the positive and negative
aspects of interacting online?
• Are there new skills that may be relevant
to being successful in the online dating
world
Basic principles of attraction
In general…
• We like people who like us
• We like people who satisfy our needs
• We like people when the rewards they
provide outweigh the costs (Social
Exchange Theory)
The Equity Theory
• Relationships are most satisfying when the
ratio between benefits and contributions is
similar for both partners.
• There might be individual differences in
importance of equity.
Basic principles of attraction
Specific Determinants of Liking…
• Proximity
• Familiarity
• Similarity
• Personal Qualities of the Other
• Let’s take a closer look…
Proximity
• The best single predictor of whether two
people will be friends is how far apart they
live
• Watch “Inside the Female Brain”
Proximity
• Why does proximity have an effect?
– Ease of availability
– Lower cost in terms of time, money,
forethought
– Cognitive dissonance pressures to like those
with whom we must associate
– The mere anticipation of interaction increases
liking
Familiarity
• The mere exposure effect : simply being
exposed to a person (or other stimulus)
tends to increase liking for it
Familiarity
• Why does familiarity promote liking?
Possibilities include:
– Evolutionarily adaptive
• Unfamiliar objects & people may be dangerous
– Improves recognizing, which is a 1st step to
liking
– Familiar is more predictable
– Familiar is assumed to be more similar to
oneself
Similarity
• We like others who are similar to us in
attitudes, interests, values, background &
personality
Similarity
• In romantic relationships, the tendency to
choose similar others is called the
matching principle.
• People tend to match their partners on a
wide variety of attributes
• age, intelligence, education, religion,
attractiveness, height
• But friendship and love can transcend
differences in background
Similarity
• Why do people prefer similar others?
– Similar others are more rewarding
– Interacting with similar others minimizes the
possibility of cognitive dissonance
– We expect to be more successful with similar
others
Similarity
• What mechanisms foster similarity in close
relationships?
– Selective attraction – only considering those
who are similar on certain dimensions (e.g.
religion)
– Social influence – the people are initially less
similar (when they start the relationship), but
influence each other through interactions
(becoming more similar)
– Shared environmental factors – similar
experiences may lead people to have
similar attitudes, etc.
• As people interact with similar others, they
tend to become even more similar
Similarity
• Limits to Similarity include:
– Differences can also be rewarding
• Differences allow people to pool-shared
knowledge and skills to mutual benefit
– Similarity can be threatening when someone
similar to us experiences an unfortunate fate
Physical Attractiveness
• One reason we like more attractive people
is that they are believed to possess other
good qualities (stereotype)
– In fact, according to on study (Feingold,
1992), more attractive people may be more
socially skilled
– They are also believed to be more intelligent,
dominant, & mentally healthy
Physical Attractiveness
• In a classic study on the importance
of physical attractiveness, college
students were randomly assigned to
each other as dates for an evening.
People who were more attractive
were better liked by their date
(Walster et al., 1966).
Physical Attractiveness
• Other Effects of Attractiveness
– Physically attractive people are more likely to
receive help, job recommendations, and more
lenient punishments
– People who are disabled may have to
overcome stereotypes that portray them as
unattractive & lonely
Physical Attractiveness
• Who is Attractive?
– Culture plays a large role in standards of
attractiveness
– However, people do tend to agree on some
features that are seen as more attractive:
• Statistically “average” faces
• Symmetrical or balanced faces
Physical Attractiveness
• Why does attractiveness matter?
– People believe attractiveness is correlated
with other positive characteristics
– Being associated with an attractive other
leads a person to be seen as more attractive
him or herself
– According to evolutionary theory,
attractiveness may provide a clue to health
and reproductive fitness
Personal Relationships
• There are three basic characteristics of
personal relationships:
– Frequent interaction over a long period of time
– Many different kinds of activities
– Strong mutual influence
Interdependence Theory
• Analyzes the exchange and coordination
of outcomes between interdependent
partners
Interdependence Theory
• A reward is anything a person gains from
an interaction
– It can be particular or general, symbolic or
concrete
– Basic types of rewards:
Love
Money
Status
Information
Goods
Services
Interdependence Theory
• A cost is any negative consequence that
occurs in an interaction or relationship
– Time
– Energy
– Conflict
– Others’ Disapproval
– Opportunity Cost
Self-Disclosure
• Self-disclosure is a special type of
conversation in which we share intimate
information and feelings with another
person.
Self-Disclosure
• Reasons we disclose
– Social Approval
– Relationship Development
– Self-Expression
– Self-Clarification
– Social Control
Self-Disclosure
•
Liking
•
Self-Disclosure
• In general, we most like people whose selfdisclosure is reciprocal and gradual.
• The impact of self-disclosure on liking
depends on the nature of the relationship.
– E.g., an intimate self-disclosure by one’s roommate may be
received very differently than an intimate self-disclosure by a
random stranger in a lecture hall.
Self-Disclosure
• Self-disclosure also entails risks:
– Indifference
– Rejection
– Loss of Control
– Betrayal
• Because of the risks of self-disclosure, we
sometimes conceal our deepest feelings
and keep secrets
What would you do?
HOMEWORK assignment:
Watch an episode of “What would you do?”
on Hulu.com and then write a paper…see
handout for further instructions.
Final Paper
• Unit 4 Graded PROJECT Part 2: Literature
Review (Due WEEK 8 – NEXT WEEK)
• Unit 10 Graded PROJECT Part 4: FINAL
White Paper (Due WEEK 10)
• Unit 11 Graded PROJECT Part 5: Student
project presentation (Due WEEK 10)
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