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Effects of reciprocity on attraction: The role of a partner's physical attractiveness
Abstract
Two studies examined whether expectations of reciprocal desire had a greater impact on people's desire for a potential partner the more the partner was physically attractive. Study 1 showed that a reciprocity manipulation had a greater impact on participants' desire for attractive, relative to moderately attractive, and relatively unattractive potential partners. In Study 2, after learning of a potential partner's desire, desire for highly attractive, relative to attractive, potential partners increased to a larger extent. Mediation analyses showed that this effect was due to the participant's initial expectations of reciprocal desire. In contrast, after learning of a potential partner's lack of desire, participant's desire for highly attractive and attractive potential partners decreased to a similar extent.
... Taking the perspective that people tend to reciprocate how others feel about them, some research suggests that playing-hard-to-get might not be an effective strategy. It could backfire if restricting displays of attraction fails to generate interest and instead leads a potential partner to reciprocate low levels of interest (Greitemeyer, 2010;Montoya & Horton, 2012;Sternberg, 2013). But, playing hard-to-get might work if the individual using it capitalizes on social interaction features other than reciprocity to attract mates. ...
... Indeed, uncertainty and social attraction are inversely correlated (Antheunis et al., 2010;Ramirez & Burgoon, 2004). Furthermore, when informed about a potential partner's desire or lack of desire, people express similar levels of interest -or disinterest (Greitemeyer, 2010;Montoya & Horton, 2012;Sternberg, 2013). The reciprocity of liking process occurs in the first few minutes of initial encounters (Chapdelaine et al., 1994). ...
... An older study by Walster et al. (1971) also indicated similar associations. These results supported the reciprocity of liking process, whereby individuals tend to reciprocate how others feel about them (Greitemeyer, 2010;Montoya & Horton, 2012;Sternberg, 2013). They also support the URT, which asserts that people experience uncertainty as uncomfortable and seek to reduce it during initial encounters (Berger & Calabrese, 1975;West & Turner, 2020). ...
According to dating folklore, playing "hard-to-get" is an effective strategy for attracting prospective mates. However, some research suggests that this strategy could backfire if it leads prospective mates to withhold their attraction in return. The present research aimed to review the scope of research on the link between playing hard-to-get - i.e., appearing uncertain in one's interest and/or difficult to attract - and romantic or sexual outcomes. A scoping search was conducted in the electronic databases of PsycINFO, Sociology Source Ultimate, Anthropology Plus, and Academic Search Ultimate using key words related to playing hard-to-get in the context of dating. A total of 18 studies were included in the review. Research suggests that playing hard-to-get may work if optimal levels of perceived uncertainty and difficulty are achieved. Additional variables were identified as being important when evaluating the tactic's efficacy. These include the pursuer's own level commitment to the pursued partner and aversion to uncertainty, and both the pursuer and pursued partners' gender and attachment styles. Directions for future research and the relevance of sociocultural norms in dating are discussed. Keywords: playing hard-to-get, dating, romantic relationships, mating strategy, attraction.
... The results support the notion that playing moderately hard to get elicits more intense feelings of attraction from potential suitors than playing too easy or too hard to get. Discussion of previous research examining playing hard to get is also re-examined through an emotion intensity theory theoretical lens. a potential romantic partner reciprocates one's attraction leads to increased attraction for the potential partner (Greitemeyer, 2010). People expect their attraction to be reciprocated (Back et al., 2011), and experience negative emotions (i.e., distress) and uncertainty when reciprocation is withheld (Baumeister, Wotman, & Stillwell, 1993). ...
... The purpose of the current research is to examine the effect of reciprocity of attraction as a deterrent to attraction for a potential partner. Past research shows that reciprocation of attraction is related to greater attraction toward a potential romantic partner (Eastwick et al., 2007;Greitemeyer, 2010;Kenny, 1994;Lehr & Geher, 2006;Peretti & Abplanalp, 2004;Sprecher, 1998). However, people are also found to be attracted to individuals who withhold reciprocity of attraction by playing hard to get (Matthews et al., 1979;Walster et al., 1973;Whitchurch et al., 2011;Wright & Contrada, 1986). ...
... A wealth of empirical findings shows that reciprocating romantic attraction influences interpersonal relationships (Back et al., 2011;Greitemeyer, 2010;Peretti & Abplanalp, 2004;Sprecher, 1998;Whitchurch et al., 2011). Because the reciprocation of romantic attraction is desired and expected from potential partners (Back et al., 2011), researchers have sought to explain why playing hard to get (i.e., withholding attraction) is a beneficial dating strategy (Walster et al., 1973). ...
In two studies, we examined the effect of different degrees of attraction reciprocation on ratings of attraction toward a potential romantic partner. Undergraduate college student participants imagined a potential romantic partner who reciprocated a low (reciprocating attraction one day a week), moderate (reciprocating attraction three days a week), high (reciprocating attraction five days a week), or unspecified degree of attraction (no mention of reciprocation). Participants then rated their degree of attraction toward the potential partner. The results of Study 1 provided only partial support for Brehm's emotion intensity theory. However, after revising the high reciprocation condition vignette in Study 2, supporting Brehm's emotion intensity theory, results show that a potential partners' display of reciprocation of attraction acted as a deterrent to participants' intensity of experienced attraction to the potential partner. The results support the notion that playing moderately hard to get elicits more intense feelings of attraction from potential suitors than playing too easy or too hard to get. Discussion of previous research examining playing hard to get is also re-examined through an emotion intensity theory theoretical lens.
... For instance, humor production and appreciation significantly relate to positive affect (Robert & da Motta Veiga, 2017). The reciprocal positive relation between liking and perceived use of humor (Treger et al., 2013) is consistent with the reciprocity effect of sympathy (Greitemeyer, 2010), which also explains why the perception of being liked (metaliking) elicits liking, which is reflected in humorous exchanges (e.g., Li et al., 2009). ...
... Also supporting the sexual advertisement hypothesis, Tornquist and Chiappe (2015) report humor production and appreciation to predict physical attractivity. Likewise, consistent with the reciprocity effect of sympathy on attraction (Greitemeyer, 2010), initial attractivity of a target is a driver of humor production by an actor, and initial attractivity and relationship interest can also predict humor appreciation (Li et al., 2009), which is also in line with the interest indicator model (see below). ...
... In support of this supposition, the knowledge of being liked-also referred to as reciprocal likinghas been found to be a strong predictor of attraction (Aronson, Wilson, & Akert, 2002;Aronson & Worchel, 1966;Finkel & Eastwick, 2015). Furthermore, people tend to assume that they will be liked more by similar others than dissimilar others (e.g., Aronson & Worchel, 1966;Greitemeyer, 2010). Condon and Crano (1988) studied the relationship between actual (manipulated) similarity and attraction, while controlling for inferred evaluation (expectation of being liked). ...
... In both of the models that examined liking of the partner based on bogus information prior to the interaction (i.e., effects of bogus information on similarity and perceived similarity based on bogus information), certainty of being liked successfully and positively mediated the similarity-liking link. These results should not be surprising, given people's tendency to assume that they will be liked more by similar others than by dissimilar others (e.g., Aronson & Worchel, 1966;Greitemeyer, 2010). While certainty of being liked may exert some degree of influence on liking after a live interaction, this effect was suppressed by the other mediators (primarily fun and enjoyment) and only emerged as significant when tested as a single mediator. ...
Several mediators of the similarity–liking link were examined in a laboratory study that involved previously unacquainted individuals interacting to become acquainted and that also included a preinteraction manipulation of bogus similarity. In addition to replicating the robust finding of a positive association between similarity and liking in both a bogus stranger paradigm and a social interaction paradigm, we tested the roles of five potential mediators of the similarity–liking association: consensual validation, cognitive evaluation, certainty of being liked, fun and enjoyment, and self-expansion opportunity. The results indicated certainty of being liked to be the strongest mediator prior to a live interaction and fun and enjoyment to be the strongest mediator postinteraction. Consensual validation was also found to be a strong mediator postinteraction.
... Accordingly, we expect that a partner's "appreciation" or "merit" qualities will have little effect on love if unacceptably low. A study by Greitemeyer (2010) supports this point. In this research, participants were presented with photos of attractive, moderately attractive, and unattractive potential partners and, in one condition, imagined that they had an unequivocal desire for the participant. ...
We offer a novel motivational account of romantic love, which portrays it as a means to the end of feeling significant and worthy. According to the model, falling in love with a partner depends on the actor's perceptions that (1) the partner possesses meritorious characteristics, and (2) that they appreciate the actor and view them as significant. We assume that these two factors multiplicatively combine with the magnitude of actor's quest for significance to determine the likelihood of actor becoming enamored with partner. The multiplicative model has two major implications: 1. If any one of the partner's merit , appreciation , or actor's significance quest factors falls below its respective threshold of acceptability (such that it is subjectively non-existent), the likelihood of falling in love will be negligible. 2. Above their acceptability thresholds, levels of (partner's) merit , appreciation and (actor's) significance quest factors compensate for one another. A partner's lower standing on merit or appreciation is compensated in its impact on falling in love by the partner's higher standing on the remaining dimension. Furthermore, lower levels of either or both of these factors are compensated for by the actor's higher level of significance quest.
Our model affords a broad account of diverse love phenomena, allows the derivation of several specific hypotheses supported by prior close-relations research as well as new data, and it offers novel avenues for further research on classic issues in romantic love. The discussion considers our model's unique implications and examines its relation to other theories of love.
... Similarly, in romantic relationships, women report higher attraction toward men they believe liked them more (Whitchurch et al., 2011). This tendency is stronger when the target is physically attractive (Greitemeyer, 2010). ...
The speed‐dating procedure allows researchers to closely investigate relationship‐initiation situations. Although previous speed‐dating studies identified physical attractiveness, earning prospects, and reciprocity as predictors of romantic attraction, few such studies have been conducted outside Europe or North America. The current speed‐dating study examined what factors would predict attraction ratings by potential partners among the Japanese—an understudied sample. Participants included 27 men and 28 women who first completed a questionnaire to measure individual attributes. During each speed‐dating session, 12–15 men and women talked for 3 minutes and evaluated each opposite‐gender participant on attraction and dating intentions. Results of the social relations model showed that men evaluated women who were more physically attractive and achieved higher education as more attractive. These results imply that men tend to generalize their first impressions of women's physical attractiveness to other aspects of the partner, and that Japanese men may consider dual income as a necessity for marriage.
... Although the term "aesthetic injustice" implicates that it is unjust, and I have indicated many ways that aesthetic characteristics can result in harm to people, there may be relevant counterarguments to this. For example, it can be argued that there is nothing wrong with preferring attractive partners (D'alessandro, 2022;Greitemeyer, 2010). ...
In business as elsewhere, “ugly people” are treated worse than ”pretty people.” Why is this so? This article investigates the ethics of aesthetic injustice by addressing four questions: 1. What is aesthetic injustice? 2. How does aesthetic injustice play out? 3. What are the characteristics that make people being treated unjustly? 4. Why is unattractiveness (considered to be) bad? Aesthetic injustice is defined as unfair treatment of persons due to their appearance as perceived or assessed by others. It is plays out in a variety of harms, ranging from killing (genocide), torture, violence, exclusion (social or physical), discrimination, stigmatization, epistemic injustice, harassment, pay inequity, bullying, alienation, misrecognition, stereotyping, and to prejudice. The characteristics that make people treated unjustly are (lack of) attractiveness, averageness, proportion, and homogeneity. Furthermore, prejudice, psychological biases, logical fallacies, and unwarranted fear of disease are some reasons why unattractiveness is (considered to be) bad. In sum, this study synthesizes insights from a wide range of research and draws attention to aesthetic injustice as a generic term for a form of injustice that deserves more systematic attention. Having a definition, description, and explanation of the concept makes it easier to target the problems with aesthetic injustice. As the business world is an arena of ubiquitous aesthetic injustice business ethics can take the lead in identifying, explaining, and addressing the problem.
... This region is engaged when one experiences "social pain" caused by romantic rejection (Kross et al., 2011). Another study has shown that learning of an attractive potential partner's interest has a greater impact on romantic evaluation (Greitemeyer, 2010), implying that there is interplay between perceived facial attractiveness and emotion processing during interactions. Top-down cognitive control supported by the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Heatherton and Wagner, 2011) may also be involved in the modulation process. ...
Romantic love is universally observed in human communities, and the manner in which a person chooses a long-term romantic partner has been a central question in studies on close relationships. Numerous empirical psychological studies have demonstrated that facial attractiveness greatly impacts initial romantic attraction. This close link was further investigated by neuroimaging studies showing that both viewing attractive faces and having romantic thoughts recruit the reward system. However, it remains unclear how our brains integrate perceived facial attractiveness into initial romantic attraction. In addition, it remains unclear how our brains shape a persistent attraction to a particular person through interactions; this persistent attraction is hypothesized to contribute to a long-term relationship. After reviewing related studies, I introduce methodologies that could help address these questions.
... A social self of this sort might be called the reflected or looking-glass self: Each to each a looking-glass reflects the other that doth pass» Thus, positive correlations have been established by high school students and adolescents, between psychological well-being and the level of physical attraction, according to the beauty of the face, the body size, or by the body mass index (Feingold 1992;Langlois et al. 2000;Griffin and Langlois, 2006;Blote et al 2014). These observations have been reinforced more recently by a study of reciprocal effects on physical attraction (Greitemeyer 2010). Typically, people seem rather drawn to those who love them, and the face is the "common denominator of all emotions". ...
Systems that have yet to stand the test of time carry imperfections that need to be skillfully addressed with the least amount of authoritarianism as possible. The communication and transmission of knowledge that we hold dear are essential pillars to social progress. As such, it is necessary to analyze with the greatest scientific objectivity the applications arising from the deep revolution rooted in the total sequencing of the human genome which affects all aspects of our societies. This extraordinary advance in human knowledge and the resulting technological achievements should not lend themselves to the fears or fantasies often fueled by those who criticize all scientific progress calling into question the most established dogmas. Certain supposedly scholarly analyses of the health situation with which we are currently confronted worldwide are a perfect illustration of this unfortunate trend. It is undeniable that the progress of molecular genetics has opened up a wide range of applications in many fields, affecting the well-being of humans, their mental and physical health. The apparent universal and individual interest for the most advanced genetic profile analyzing technologies is a testimony to this strong common desire to better understand one’s genetic heritage and to control their usage. Despite this movement, little attention is given to the recent advances in genetics applied to essential aspects of the social life of individuals through their inter-personal interactions. It is particularly distressing that the contributions of molecular biology and genetics to the daily well-being of individuals have not yet allowed open-access non-medical genetic testing to gain the recognition it deserves and are still viewed as recreational applications. Through an analysis of the cross influences that genetic biotechnologies have had since the beginning of the century in the fields of nutrition and cosmetics, we have tried to project ourselves into the near future which should witness major behavioral and social upheavals.
... However, responsiveness was generally found to increase sexual desire in established relationships overall, especially among women (Birnbaum et al., 2016). Other findings suggest that whether ambiguity and doubts over a potential romantic partner's romantic interest increase desire may depend on the physical attractiveness of that potential partner (Greitemeyer, 2010). Reciprocity may increase desire to a greater degree for individuals already deemed physically attractive, whereas some degree of ambiguity may increase desire for those who are moderately physically attractive or unattractive, perhaps by making these individuals seem more selective and conferring mate value. ...
In an integrative review, we examine four theories and models of romantic passion to determine what causes feelings of romantic passion. Although a growing consensus has emerged for the definition of romantic passion, we suggest that this is largely not the case for the source of romantic passion. We outline how four different perspectives—Limerence Theory, the Rate of Change in Intimacy Model, the Self‐Expansion Model, and the Triangular Theory of Love—propose four different potential sources of romantic passion and review empirical support in favor and against each. For each of these perspectives, we additionally outline the predicted trajectory of passion that follows from each theorized source of passion, as well as each perspective's view on the ability for passion to be controlled and up‐regulated. In identifying ways in which these theories and models offer conflicting predictions about the source of romantic passion, this review points to ways in which a more comprehensive model may be developed that integrates across these four perspectives.
... However, these differences are often due to increases in liking for similar others, rather than a decrease in liking (i.e., repulsion) for dissimilar others (Sprecher, 2019). Sharing beliefs and characteristics with others can lead to feelings of validation of those characteristics (Singh et al., 2017) or to the belief that one will be liked more by similar than dissimilar others (Greitemeyer, 2010;Hampton et al., 2019). Self-disclosure that highlights similarities between individuals may thus be especially effective at building rapport (Abbe & Brandon, 2013). ...
Rapport-based approaches have become a central tenet of investigative interviewing with suspects and sources. Here we explored the utility of using rapport-building tactics (i.e., self-disclosure and interviewer feedback) to overcome barriers to cooperation in the interviewing domain. Across two experiments using the illegal behaviors paradigm (Dianiska et al., 2019), participants completed a checklist of illegal behaviors and were then interviewed about their background and interests (the interpersonal interview) as well as about their prior participation in an illegal act (the illegal behavior interview). During the interpersonal interview, we manipulated whether the participant’s disclosure was unilateral or reciprocal (Experiment 1; N = 124), and whether the interviewer self-disclosed and/or provided the participant with verifying feedback in response to the participant’s disclosures (Experiment 2; N = 210). Participants were then asked to provide a statement about the most serious illegal behavior to which they had admitted. For both experiments, participants provided more information about the prior illegal act when the interviewer provided information about themselves. Further, there was a significant increase in the amount of information elicited from the participant when the interviewer highlighted similarity with the participant. In line with prior work, we found support for an indirect relationship between the use of rapport-building tactics and disclosure that was mediated by the participant’s perception of rapport and their decision to cooperate.
... All stimulus persons were approximately in their mid-twenties. These photographs were successfully employed in previous research (Greitemeyer, 2007(Greitemeyer, , 2010. In the control condition, participants were not exposed to any stimulus person. ...
Past research has shown that how people rate their physical attractiveness is only moderately correlated with how they are rated by others, suggesting that at least some people have little insight into their true level of attractiveness. The present research tests the hypothesis that unattractive people are not aware of their unattractiveness. In fact, six studies (overall N = 1,180) showed that unattractive participants considerably overestimated their attractiveness compared to ratings by strangers. In contrast, attractive participants were more accurate. If anything, they underestimated their attractiveness. It was also examined why unattractive people overestimate their attractiveness. As expected, unattractive participants differentiated less between attractive and unattractive stimulus persons than did attractive participants. They were also more likely than attractive participants to select unattractive stimulus persons to compare themselves to. However, these tendencies did not account for why unattractive participants overestimated their attractiveness, nor did affirming participant’s self‐worth. Limitations and avenues for future research are discussed.
... correlation is weaker and statistically insignificant for men (Hill, 2002). Since physical attractiveness may be a more important factor for women compared to men (Greitemeyer, 2010;Grabe & Hyde, 2006) and light skin is highly associated with beauty standards (Clark & Clark, 1950;Hunter, 2005;Russell et al., 1992), it is hypothesized that colorism, defined in terms of preferential treatment based on skin color, has different effects on socioeconomic outcomes for men and women. The empirical evidence in support of the gendered aspects of skin color inequality and discrimination is unclear. ...
This article examines skin color discrimination in two Brazilian labor markets using a field experimental approach. Fictitious resumes including photographs of job candidates were randomly assigned one skin color category via photo manipulation and submitted to entry-level job openings. In addition to assessing the extent of skin color discrimination, this article adopts an intersectional framework to examine how the effect of skin color in employment is moderated by class status and varies by gender. I found mixed results about the role of skin color in predicting the employment outcomes at the initial stages of the hiring process. Results from logistic regression and Linear Probability Models show that skin color is a weak predictor of hiring outcomes (e.g. receiving a callback from employers) among male applicants and for female applicants with brown skin. However, I find strong evidence that having dark skin is causally associated with hiring outcomes among female applicants. I also found that having a higher-class status erases skin color differences, thus identifying a potential mechanism that mitigates the effects of skin color in hiring.
... Reciprocation of attraction plays a key role in the development of romantic relationships (Berscheid & Reis, 1998;Finkel & Baumeister, 2010). When people learn that a prospective partner likes or dislikes them, they tend to reciprocate with equivalent liking or disliking (Greitemeyer, 2010;Lehr & Geher, 2006;Whitchurch, Wilson, & Gilbert, 2011). Often, however, people are uncertain about a partner's romantic interest and mixed feelings may arise instead (Baumeister, Wotman, & Stillwell, 1993). ...
Do feelings of uncertainty about existing or potential relationships spice up relationships or impair them? Six studies employed complementary methods to examine whether relationship uncertainty affects partners' sexual desirability, and whether expressions of partners' regard influence these effects. In Studies 1-4, participants interacted online with confederates who were either clear or vague about their romantic intentions. Results showed that relationship uncertainty had detrimental effects on confederates' appeal only when they were perceived as uninterested in the participants. Moreover, explicit expressions of romantic interest fostered certainty about confederates' behavioral intentions, thereby enhancing their appeal. Using survey and daily experiences methodologies, Studies 5 and 6 replicated these findings in established relationships, demonstrating that partners' regard predicted lower uncertainty, which, in turn, was associated with greater perceived partner desirability. These findings suggest that inhibiting desire serves as a mechanism aimed at protecting the self from investing in a relationship whose future is uncertain.
... For example, de Vries, Swenson, and Walsh (2008) found that men indeed based their romantic decisions on attractiveness more than women did (though women also preferred more attractive mates); however, financial resources did not seemtomatterforeithersex.Researchexamininggaymen'sand lesbians' responses to potential mates' photographs has further demonstrated that traditional mate preferences emerge across sexual orientation: both gay and heterosexual men prioritized attractiveness, whereas lesbian and heterosexual women preferred resources (Ha, van den Berg, Engels, & Lichtwarck-Aschoff, 2012). A number of additional studies found that people generally seem to prefer more attractive mates when they evaluate photographs (Byrne, London, & Reeves, 1968;Greitemeyer, 2010;Kocsor, Rezneki, Juhász, & Bereczkei, 2011;Lee et al., 2008;Montoya, 2008), with resource and status cues deemed predictive but less important to people's romantic interest (de Vries et al., 2008). When selecting based on appearance, then, people seem to place more weight on attractiveness than status and wealth. ...
A large literature suggests that men and women differ in their self-reported mate preferences such that men place greater weight on physical attractiveness than women do, whereas women value financial prospects more than men. Yet, little research has addressed how these differences generalize to other contexts, such as modern online dating in which mate selection may largely depend on visual cues. Distinct from the sex differences observed in previous studies relying on self-reports, we found that men and women both used perceptions of health and attractiveness to select hypothetical partners based on photographs of their faces. Importantly, although people reliably identified others’ wealth from their photographs, these perceptions did not influence men’s or women’s partner selections. Thus, men and women may select romantic partners similarly based on limited visual information.
... Physical attractiveness also provides information about mate-relevant economic or social factors, such as income or hunting ability (Harper, 2000) and plays an important role in mate selection (Grammer et al., 2003;Gangestad and Scheyd, 2005). Both males and females have a greater desire to date highly attractive partners (Greitemeyer, 2010). The common motive to obtain and maintain access to partners, especially highly desirable partners, can often induce intrasexual competition (Buunk and Massar, 2012). ...
People have a greater desire to date highly attractive partners, which induces intrasexual competition between same-sex individuals. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore whether and how intrasexual competition modulates pain empathy for a same-sex rival and the underlying neural mechanism. Participants were scanned while processing the pain of a same-sex ‘lucky guy’ who had an attractive partner and one with a plain partner. The results revealed that participants reported lower pain intensity for the lucky guy. Neurally, reduced pain-related activations in anterior insula and anterior mid-cingulate cortex and increased activations in right superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and medial prefrontal gyrus (MPFC) were found for the lucky guy compared to the one with a plain partner. Right SFG and MPFC activations could predict participants’ subsequent pain intensity ratings for the lucky guy. These findings suggest intrasexual competition can modulate normal empathic responses.
... Diverse methodologies have been employed by a separate era of social scientists dedicated to understanding physical attraction. Survey research by Greitemeyer (2010) found that individuals felt a strong need for reciprocation if their dating partner was viewed as very physically attractive. Interview research conducted by Albada, Knapp, and Theune (2002) revealed that: "physical attractiveness emerged as a quality that is thought about, valued in a relational partner, and important for relationship satisfaction" (p. ...
The central purpose of this study was to determine whether a single interpersonal communication event could influence perceptions of physical attractiveness in a dating environment. A total of 104 undergraduate students at a large United States university engaged in speed-dating in order to examine the effects of both positive communication and negative communication. Speed-dating was incorporated into the present research because this round-robin method of dating offered an efficient means for investigating attraction and analyzing the effects of a single conversation. It was upon arrival at the event that participants completed a pre-test measure, engaged in a series of three minute speed-dates, and then completed a post-test measure. Results produced evidence of an interaction. Perceptions of physical attractiveness increased from pre-test to post-test in the positive communication condition while perceptions of physical attractiveness decreased from pre-test to post-test in the negative communication condition. Additional findings illustrated that three minutes of non-neutral social interaction had differing effects on women and men. One of the central conclusions from the present research was that females can strategically use interpersonal communication as a tool for enhancing their physical appearance. The results from this study also yielded practical implications that are relevant to casual dating as well as theoretical implications that are germane to communication theory.
... The humor-liking link may implicitly entail the reciprocity of liking effect: We like those who like us (e.g., Greitemeyer, 2010;Montoya & Insko, 2008). If, as some accounts of humor suggest (e.g., Li et al., 2009), people use humor with those whom they like, then humor may be a vehicle for carrying an implicit message of reciprocal liking to the humor recipient. ...
Humor is a common interpersonal phenomenon that may positively influence the trajectories of social interactions. In two social interaction experiments, we examined the association between humor and liking. The first study was a secondary analysis of data from a prior experiment (originally conducted for another purpose) in which unacquainted participants engaged in a self-disclosure task and rated each other on various dimensions, including humor. In Experiment 2, unacquainted mixed-sex dyads participated in a series of either humorous or similar but non-humorous tasks. In both studies, humor was positively associated with liking and closeness; perceived reciprocal liking and enjoyment of the interaction mediated the association between humor and liking. Likewise, we found a positive association between liking and humor. Men and women did not differ in self-reported humor use. The findings suggest that humor is a mechanism used to establish connections with others across all relationships and for both sexes. Copyright (c) 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The chapter discusses a variety of psychological factors that influence attraction. The chapter describes love as a psychological attraction, focusing on the qualities, intensity, and strength of emotions. Affectionate, passionate, obsessive, para-social, and romantic attraction are several types of psychological attractions defined here.
Then, the chapter describes the dialectics of psychological similarities and differences between individuals determining the types of attraction. The dialectics of happiness and unhappiness, attraction and repulsion, create the appealing bittersweet nature of love as an attraction.
Proximity, reciprocity, and the dynamics of interpersonal interaction also determine psychological attraction. The psychological dynamics of interpersonal attraction involve certainty, the need for closure, familiarity, and stability on the one hand and uncertainty, novelty, and instability on the other. Transformations of psychological arousal, such as arousal and excitation transfers, the extrinsic arousal effect, and the opponent process, can inspire interpersonal attraction.
The chapter shows how autonomy and interdependence between individuals generate their attraction to each other. The desires for psychological union, complementarity, and self-expansion become the ultimate drivers of interpersonal attraction.
The two last sections review the findings, which demonstrate the role of personality traits and rational and practical motivation in interpersonal attraction. In this context, the author presents attraction theories that are based on the motivating roles of reinforcement, exchange, and reward.
Objective:
Perception of physical attractiveness (PPA) is a fundamental aspect of human relationships and may help explain alcohol's rewarding and harmful effects. Yet PPA is rarely studied in relation to alcohol, and existing approaches often rely on simple attractiveness ratings. The present study added an element of realism to the attractiveness assessment by asking participants to select four images of people they were led to believe might be paired with them in a subsequent study.
Method:
Dyads of platonic, same-sex male friends [n=36; ages 21-27; predominately White (n=20)] attended two lab sessions, wherein they consumed alcohol and a no-alcohol control beverage (counterbalanced). Following beverage onset, participants rated PPA of targets using a Likert scale. They additionally selected four individuals from the PPA rating set to potentially interact with in a future study.
Results:
Alcohol did not affect traditional PPA ratings but did significantly enhance the likelihood that participants would choose to interact with the most attractive targets [X 2 (1, N=36)=10.70, p<.01].
Conclusions:
While alcohol did not affect traditional PPA ratings, alcohol did increase the likelihood of choosing to interact with more attractive others. Future alcohol-PPA studies should include more realistic contexts and provide assessment of actual approach behaviors toward attractive targets, to further clarify the role of PPA in alcohol's hazardous and socially rewarding effects.
Philosophers have rightly condemned lookism—that is, discrimination in favor of attractive people or against unattractive people—in education, the justice system, the workplace, and elsewhere. Surprisingly, however, the almost universal preference for attractive romantic and sexual partners has rarely received serious ethical scrutiny. On its face, it is unclear whether this is a form of discrimination we should reject or tolerate. I consider arguments for both views. On the one hand, a strong case can be made that preferring attractive partners is bad. The idea is that choosing partners based on looks seems essentially similar to other objectionable forms of discrimination. (In particular, the preference for attractive partners is arguably both unfair and harmful to a significant degree.) One can try to resist this conclusion in several ways. I consider three possible replies. The first has to do with the possibility of controlling our partner preferences. The second pertains to attractiveness and ‘good genes’. The last attempts to link certain aspects of attractiveness to a prospective partner's personality and values. I argue that the first two replies fail conclusively, while the third only amounts to a limited defense of a particular kind of attractiveness preference. The idea that we should often avoid preferring attractive partners is thus compelling.
The accumulated evidence suggests that lighter-complected blacks are more successful in our society than their darker-complected counterparts. Prior research also documents a correlation between physical attractiveness and socio-economic status attainment. The current study bridges the literatures on colorism and physical attraction and examines the complex relationship between skin color, physical attractiveness, gender, on the one hand, and three indicators of status attainment (educational attainment, hourly wage and job quality), on the other, for black young adults. Controls include family SES, family structure, parent–child relationships, and other covariates. Analysis was conducted in STATA and via structural equation modeling using MPlus software. The analysis shows that lighter-skinned young blacks attain a higher educational level, receive higher wages and enjoy better-quality jobs than their darker skinned co-ethnics. Moreover, the results show that more physically attractive young blacks, especially women, are advantaged in terms of educational attainment, wages, and job quality than their less physically attractive counterparts. These findings suggest that, among blacks, the skin color stratification coincides with that based on physical attractiveness to a large degree, with the implication being that the skin tone is a predictor of both physical attractiveness and social status for black men and women.
This encyclopedia article reviews the major predictors of interpersonal attraction, the desire to be around and form a friendship or romantic relationship with another person. The main predictors include physical attractiveness, desirable personality traits, similarity, familiarity, and reciprocal liking. Other factors that facilitate or limit these effects, as well as situational and extradyadic influences, are also discussed. Finally, findings related to each of these predictors are tied together under the overarching frameworks of social exchange theory and sexual strategies (evolutionary) theory.
Women (N = 692) in romantic relationships (average duration approximately two years) responded to an online survey. The women self-reported their own as well as their partners' physical attractiveness, revealing significant perceived matching in physical attractiveness, as well as a tendency to rate their partners as more attractive than themselves. The women completed the Resistance to Mate Guarding Scale as well as other measures of relationship attitudes and behaviors. Women who perceived themselves as more attractive than their mates more strongly resisted mate guarding; the strongest relationships were with the subscales of Covert Resistance Behaviors, Resisting Public Displays of Affection, and Avoiding Partner Contact. When women perceived themselves as more attractive than their mates, they also reported less commitment, more flirting with other men, more appealing dating alternatives, and more frequent thoughts about breaking up.
Two studies examined which traits males and females desire in partners at various levels of relationship development in an attempt to integrate evolutionary models (which emphasize sex differences) and social exchange models (which emphasize self-appraisals). In Study 1, male and female students specified their minimum criteria on 24 traits for a date, sexual partner, exclusive dating partner, marriage partner, and 1-night sexual liaison. They also rated themselves on the same dimensions. Sex differences were greatest for casual sexual liaisons, with men's criteria being consistently lower than women's. Men's self-ratings were generally less correlated with their criteria for a 1-night stand, as well. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1, adding several modifications, including a measure of Ss' sex typing. Sex typing had few effects. The advantages of combining social psychological and evolutionary perspectives are discussed.
Although people with negative self-views want to be liked at some level, they repeatedly enact behaviors that alienate their relationship partners. Why? One possibility is that such persons reside in social environments that offer them little insight into what they are doing wrong. Although persons who had negative self-views elicited unfavorable reactions, they did not appreciate this fact because their interaction partners concealed their aversion behind a facade of kind words. To be sure, the interaction partners of people with negative self-views tended to leak their disdain nonverbally. These negative nonverbal messages proved to be uniformative, however, because people with negative self-views overlooked them. These data imply that people with negative self-views may live in social worlds in which they are deprived of corrective feedback that could allow them to improve themselves.
The authors proposed that personal feelings of self-esteem foster the level of confidence in a partner's regard critical for satisfying attachments. Dating and married couples described themselves, their partners, how they thought their partners saw them, and how they wanted their partners to see them on a variety of interpersonal qualities. The results revealed that low self-esteem individuals dramatically underestimated how positively their partners saw them. Such unwarranted and unwanted insecurities were associated with less generous perceptions of partners and lower relationship well-being. The converse was true for high self-esteem individuals. A longitudinal examination of the dating couples revealed that the vulnerabilities of lows were only exacerbated over rime. A dependency regulation model is proposed, wherein felt security in a partner's perceived regard is suggested as a prime mechanism linking self-esteem to relational well-being.
A male's decision to approach a physically attractive female stranger may be fraught with ambivalence. He is drawn by her beauty but he may fear rejection. The conflict lessens, however, if approach can occur under the guise of a motive other than desire to be with the attractive woman. This is because keeping one's true approach motive ambiguous may make direct personal rejection less likely. The effect of ambiguity on males' tendencies to approach females was explored in two experiments. In the first study, presented to subjects as a movie rating exercise, an excuse to sit with an attractive female confederate (a movie preference) was available to some subjects but not to others. As predicted, males only sat with the confederate when a reason for their affiliative behavior, other than her attractiveness, was available. In the second study, male-female dyads were run through the film rating paradigm with the female subjects in the role played by the confederate in Study I. The results of Study I were replicated for the dyads which included attractive females, as expected. The relationships between fear of failure and attributional ambiguity in social and achievement settings are examined. The tendency to discount a person's physical appearance as a cause of social behavior is discussed.
Accounts of falling in love were obtained from three samples: (a) lengthy accounts from fifty undergraduates who had fallen in love in the last 8 months; (b) brief accounts from 100 adult nonstudents, which were compared to 100 brief falling-in-friendship accounts from the same population; and (c) questionnaire responses about falling-in-love experiences from 277 undergraduates, which were compared to falling-in-friendship-experience questionnaires from eighty-three similar undergraduates. Content analyses of Study 1 and 2 accounts and Study 3 questionnaire results suggested that falling in love was preceded by frequent reported incidences of discovering other's liked the self and noticing other's desirable characteristics (appearance and personality); moderate incidences of perceived similarity, propinquity and `special falling-in-love processes' (readiness, specific cues, arousal/unusualness, mystery, isolation); and relatively low reported incidences of filling needs and social influence. These patterns contrast with those suggested by the general-attraction and mate-selection literatures. Falling-in-friendship accounts, on the other hand, gave relatively more emphasis to similarity and propinquity, but somewhat less to reciprocal liking, other's desirable characteristics, needs, and the special falling-in-love processes.
The majority of mate selection research focuses on what people want, rather than what they will settle for, in a partner. The present study explored the extent to which sex, self perceived mate value, and relationship context moderate ideal partner preferences and the willingness to compromise ideal standards. When considering a casual sex partner, men and women emphasized and were unwilling to compromise on physical attractiveness; when considering a romantic partner, both emphasized and refused to compromise on interpersonal responsiveness. Sex differences primarily occurred in the context of short-term mating, with women ideally seeking an older more interpersonally responsive sex partner and demonstrating less willingness than men to compromise their standards on a number of dimensions. Men's mate value largely was disassociated with their selection criteria; women's mate value correlated positively with their ideal preferences across many characteristics and in both mating contexts.
The present investigation examined the degree to which various characteristics are desired in five types of relational partners. Men and women (N = 700) indicated their preferences for several attributes in either a casual sex partner, dating partner, marriage partner, same-sex friend, or opposite-sex friend (randomly assigned). Participants also indicated how important it was to obtain a partner with the desired level of each attribute. Although participants most preferred warmth and kindness, expressivity and openness, and a good sense of humor across relationship types, they clearly distinguished between romantic/sexual relationships and friendships. Specifically, participants preferred (and felt that it was more important to obtain) higher levels of many desirable characteristics - including physical attractiveness, social status attributes, and disposition or personality traits (e.g., warmth, expressiveness, humor, intelligence) - in a romantic/sexual partner than in a friend. Participants also differentiated between same-sex and opposite-sex friend- ships. In general, they preferred higher levels of and/or believed it was more important to obtain physical attractive- ness, social status, and dispositional/personality attributes from opposite-sex friends than from same-sex friends. To at least some degree, men's preferences were associated with the number of others they believed were available for a particular type of relationship; women's preferences generally were associated with perceptions of their own desirability as a partner.
Seven basic research questions in interpersonal perception are posed concerning issues of consensus, assimilation, reciprocity, accuracy, congruence, assumed similarity and self—other agreement. All questions can be addressed at the individual level, and three at the dyadic level. It is shown how the Social Relations Model can be used to answer the questions.
Examined whether physically attractive stimulus persons, both male and female, are (a) assumed to possess more socially desirable personality traits than physically unattractive stimulus persons, and (b) expected to lead better lives (e.g., be more competent husbands and wives and more successful occupationally) than unattractive stimulus persons. Sex of Subject * Sex of Stimulus Person interactions along these dimensions also were investigated. Results with 30 male and 30 female undergraduates indicate a "what is beautiful is good" stereotype along the physical attractiveness dimension with no Sex of Judge * Sex of Stimulus interaction. Implications of such a stereotype on self-concept development and the course of social interaction are discussed.
Describes a study in which the person perception study by K. K. Dion et al (see record
1973-09160-001) was quasi-replicated in order to assess the generality of the "what is beautiful is good" stereotype. In Exp I, 40 female participants who were either unattractive, average, or physically attractive made a variety of attributions about female target persons of varying attractiveness levels. Attribution favorability was found to be contingent upon the physical attractiveness of the participant as well as the dimensions along which the attributions were made. While many of the attributions were congruent with the postulated stereotype, others were not. Socially undesirable attributions regarding vanity, egotism, likelihood of marital disaster (requesting a divorce/having an extramarital affair), and likelihood of being bourgeois (materialistic/snobbish/unsympathetic to oppressed peoples) were reliably increasing monotonic functions of target persons' attractiveness levels. Plausible explanations for these divergencies were explored in Exp II with 354 randomly sampled university students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Tested the stimulus-value-role theory of marital choice which states that individuals tend to choose marital partners of comparable physical attractiveness to themselves. A total of 197 college couples who were "going together" or engaged served as Ss. Physical attractiveness was measured by self-perception, perception of the partner, and appearance judged from photos. Actual couples were hypothesized to be significantly less discrepant on these variables than a control group contrived by randomly pairing the scores of men and women. Findings support the hypothesis for self-percepts and photo attractiveness but not for perception of the partner. Results support stimulus-value-role theory and the concept of marital choice as an exchange-market phenomenon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Conducted 5 experiments testing the folklore that the woman who is hard to get is a more desirable catch than the woman who is too eager for an alliance. All 5 experiments failed. In Exp. VI with 71 male university summer students an understanding was gained of this elusive phenomenon. 2 components were proposed as contributing to a woman's desirability: (a) how hard the woman is for the S to get, and (b) how hard she is for other men to get. It was predicted that the selectively hard-to-get woman (i.e., a woman who is easy for the S to get but hard for all other men to get) would be preferred to either a uniformly hard-to-get woman, a uniformly easy-to-get woman, or a woman about whom the S had no information. This hypothesis received strong support. Men ascribed to the selective woman all of the assets of uniformly hard-to-get and the uniformly easy-to-get women and none of their liabilities. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the influence of probability of acceptance and physical attractiveness on dating choice in 3 experiments. In Exp I, 15 female undergraduates made preferential choices between 2 male dates, each described by a photograph and a statement of the probability of acceptance. Both probability and attractiveness of the date were found to be important in Ss' judgments. Further, a multiplying rule for the combination of probability of acceptance and attractiveness was supported, in agreement with the subjective expected utility theory of risky decision making. In Exp II, the same Ss made preferential choices between pairs of dates described by photographs alone. The preferences for 11 of the 15 Ss could be accounted for only by using both probability and attractiveness. A multiplicative combination of probability and attractiveness was also found to be predictive of dating choices made by these Ss. Exp III replicated the results of Exp II with a new group of 14 Ss. Results suggest that (a) females are influenced by both probability of acceptance and physical attractiveness in dating choice, and (b) they tend to combine probability with attractiveness in a multiplicative fashion. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Measured relative physical attractiveness of partners in 123 couples (mean age 21.2) in various statuses of relationship (casually dating, seriously dating, cohabiting, and engaged/married). Among casual or serious daters of both sexes, greater relative attractiveness was positively correlated with greater relative availability of opposite-sexed friends and negatively correlated with worrying about partner's potential involvement with others. For males, greater attractiveness was associated with greater desire for extrarelationship involvement. A 9-mo follow-up revealed that similarity of attractiveness was predictive of courtship progress for those who had initially been casually or seriously dating. Results are discussed in relation to both an equity theory and a competitive marketplace model of the effects of relative attractiveness on courtship progress. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the consequences of mate preferences for the processes of assortative mating and sexual selection. In Study 1, 92 married couples (aged 18–40 yrs) completed measures such as the California Psychological Inventory, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and Personal Attributes Questionnaire. Data were used to identify (a) the mate characteristics that were consensually more and less desired, (b) the mate characteristics that showed strong sex differences in their preferred value, (c) the degree to which married couples were correlated in selection preferences, and (d) the relations between expressed preferences and the personality and background characteristics of obtained spouses. Marital preference factors included Religious, Kind/Considerate, Artistic/Intelligent, and Easygoing/Adaptable. Study 2, with 100 unmarried undergraduates, replicated the sex differences and consensual ordering of mate preferences found in Study 1, using a different methodology. Alternative hypotheses are presented to account for the replicated sex differences in preferences for attractiveness and earning potential. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
We assessed sex differences in the effects of physical attractiveness and earning potential on mate selection, and sex differences in preferences and motivations with regard to short-term and long-term mating. We also investigated the effect of a variable likely to produce intra-sex variations in the selection of mating tactics, self-perceived mating success. Forty-eight university students were presented with pictures and short descriptions of persons of the opposite sex varying in physical attractiveness and earning potential. Dating interest was influenced, for both sexes, by stimulus-person's physical attractiveness and earning potential, but these two characteristics interacted only for female raters. Male and female subjects showed discrepant preferences and motivations with regard to short-term and long-term mating. In addition, self-perceived mating success was related to mating tactics in males only: Males who perceived themselves as more successful, compared to males who perceived themselves as less successful, tended to prefer and to more often select short-term mating. This effect was maximized when the stimulus person was very attractive and of high earning potential. These results confirm sex differences in mating preferences, strongly suggest a proximal factor of tactic selection, and suggest that males' mating strategies may be more variable than females'.
Two studies examined which traits males and females desire in partners at various levels of relationship development in an attempt to integrate evolutionary models (which emphasize sex differences) and social exchange models (which emphasize self-appraisals). In Study 1, male and female students specified their minimum criteria on 24 traits for a date, sexual partner, exclusive dating partner, marriage partner, and 1-night sexual liaison. They also rated themselves on the same dimensions. Sex differences were greatest for casual sexual liaisons, with men's criteria being consistently lower than women's. Men's self-ratings were generally less correlated with their criteria for a 1-night stand, as well. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1, adding several modifications, including a measure of Ss' sex typing. Sex typing had few effects. The advantages of combining social psychological and evolutionary perspectives are discussed.
Although people with negative self-views want to be liked at some level, they repeatedly enact behaviors that alienate their relationship partners. Why? One possibility is that such persons reside in social environments that offer them little insight into what they are doing wrong. Although persons who had negative self-views elicited unfavorable reactions, they did not appreciate this fact because their interaction partners concealed their aversion behind a facade of kind words. To be sure, the interaction partners of people with negative self-views tended to leak their disdain nonverbally. These negative nonverbal messages proved to be uninformative, however, because people with negative self-views overlooked them. These data imply that people with negative self-views may live in social worlds in which they are deprived of corrective feedback that could allow them to improve themselves.
It was proposed that an individual would most often expect to date, would try to date, and would like a partner of approximately his own social desirability. In brief, we attempted to apply level of aspiration theory to choice of social goals. A field study was conducted in which individuals were randomly paired with one another at a "Computer Dance." Level of aspiration hypotheses were not confirmed. Regardless of S's own attractiveness, by far the largest determinant of how much his partner was liked, how much he wanted to date the partner again, and how often he actually asked the partner out was simply how attractive the partner was. Personality measures such as the MMPI, the Minnesota Counseling Inventory, and Berger's Scale of Self- Acceptance and intellectual measures such as the Minnesota Scholastic Aptitude Test, and high school percentile rank did not predict couple compatability. The only important determinant of S's liking for his date was the date's physical attractiveness.
Four studies demonstrated that fears of rejection prompt individuals to exhibit a signal amplification bias, whereby they perceive that their overtures communicate more romantic interest to potential partners than is actually the case. The link between rejection anxieties and the bias was evident regardless of whether fears of rejection were assessed in terms of chronic attachment anxiety or were induced by reflection on a previous rejection experience. Mediation analyses suggested that the bias stems in part from an expected-augmenting process, whereby persons with strong fears of rejection incorrectly assume that the recipient of their overtures will take their inhibitions into account when interpreting their behavior. Implications for understanding the link between attachment anxiety and loneliness and for designing social skills interventions are discussed.
The authors argue that felt insecurity in a partner's positive regard and caring stems from a specifically dyadic perception--the perception that a partner is out of one's league. A cross-sectional sample of dating couples revealed that people with low self-esteem feel inferior to their partner and that such feelings of relative inferiority undermine felt security in the partner's regard. Three experiments examined the consequences of reducing such perceived discrepancies by pointing to either strengths in the self or flaws in the partner. Low, but not high, self-esteem participants reacted to new strengths in the self or faults in the partner by reporting greater felt security in their specific partner's positive regard and commitment and more positive, general feelings about their own interpersonal worth. Thus, putting the partner more within the psychological grasp of low self-esteem people may effectively increase felt security in the partner's regard.
A model of risk regulation is proposed to explain how people balance the goal of seeking closeness to a romantic partner against the opposing goal of minimizing the likelihood and pain of rejection. The central premise is that confidence in a partner's positive regard and caring allows people to risk seeking dependence and connectedness. The risk regulation system consists of 3 interconnected "if--then" contingency rules, 1 cognitive, 1 affective, and 1 behavioral. The authors describe how general perceptions of a partner's regard structure the sensitivity of these 3 "if--then" rules in risky relationship situations. The authors then describe the consequences of such situated "if--then" rules for relationship well-being and conclude by integrating other theoretical perspectives and outlining future research directions.
In paradigms in which participants state their ideal romantic-partner preferences or examine vignettes and photographs, men value physical attractiveness more than women do, and women value earning prospects more than men do. Yet it remains unclear if these preferences remain sex differentiated in predicting desire for real-life potential partners (i.e., individuals whom one has actually met). In the present study, the authors explored this possibility using speed dating and longitudinal follow-up procedures. Replicating previous research, participants exhibited traditional sex differences when stating the importance of physical attractiveness and earning prospects in an ideal partner and ideal speed date. However, data revealed no sex differences in the associations between participants' romantic interest in real-life potential partners (met during and outside of speed dating) and the attractiveness and earning prospects of those partners. Furthermore, participants' ideal preferences, assessed before the speed-dating event, failed to predict what inspired their actual desire at the event. Results are discussed within the context of R. E. Nisbett and T. D. Wilson's (1977) seminal article: Even regarding such a consequential aspect of mental life as romantic-partner preferences, people may lack introspective awareness of what influences their judgments and behavior.
Two studies tested how romantic ideal standards and their flexibility are associated with relationship quality. In Study 1, individuals rated themselves and their ideal romantic partners on three dimensions: warmth/trustworthiness, vitality/attractiveness, and status/resources. They then reported how flexible their ideals were on each dimension and how closely their current partner matched their ideal standards. Individuals who rated themselves higher on each dimension held higher ideal standards that were less flexible and perceived higher relationship quality the more their partners matched their ideals. This latter effect was moderated by the flexibility of ideals on two dimensions—warmth/trustworthiness and status/resources. In Study 2, members of dating couples reported their ideals, how closely their partners matched their ideals, and their flexibility. People were happier the more they matched their partners’ ideals. Partner discrepancy ratings once again mediated the link between self-perceptions and perceived relationship quality for the warmth/trustworthiness dimension.
The present research examined sex differences in the willingness to accept hypothetical sexual offers by different potential partners. In 2 experiments, participants were asked to imagine that 1 person with moderate socioeconomic status (SES) and moderate physical attractiveness was their current partner. In Experiment 1, 2 potential partners were either depicted as physically attractive or as having a high SES. For each of the 2 partners, American participants were asked to report their willingness to date, to kiss, to make out, to have sexual intercourse, and to leave their current partners. Results revealed that men always reported a greater willingness to accept the offer when the potential partner was physically attractive. Given a short-term involvement, women also preferred the potential partner who was physically attractive. In contrast, given a long-term involvement, they were equally willing to accept the offer of potential partners with high SES or with high physical attractiveness. In addition, whereas men reported a very similar willingness toward all kinds of offers, women reported a greater willingness to accept a less intimate, as opposed to an intimate, sexual offer. In a second experiment, these results were replicated with German respondents.
It is proposed that the reciprocation of interpersonal attraction is a multifaceted process involving affective, cognitive, and behavioral elements, and that reciprocation can be interpreted using interdependence theory. Two studies investigated whether expressed attraction implies benevolent intentions and whether such intentions are differentially critical to reciprocated affective and behavioral attraction. Study 1 (N = 52) demonstrated that (a) an admirer's expressed attraction suggests an admirer's benevolent intentions toward the target, and (b) that benevolent intentions mediate reciprocated affective and behavioral attraction. Study 2 (N = 173) found a difference between affective and behavioral attraction: affective attraction was reciprocated in all cases; but behavioral attraction was not reciprocated when stated behavioral intentions were not consistent with intentions implied by the expressed attraction. Results support an interdependence theory perspective as particularly important for understanding why and what type of reciprocated attraction will occur. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
In an experimental study, male and female university students were asked to indicate how attracted they were to an opposite gender stimulus person after being presented information about the person's physical attractiveness, earning potential, and expressiveness. As hypothesized, subjects were more attracted to a physically attractive person than to a physically unattractive person, more attracted to a person with high earning potential than to a person with low earning potential, and more attracted to a high-expressive person than to a low-expressive person. Of these three characteristics, physical attractiveness had the greatest effect on attraction. Contrary to sex role stereotypes, males and females were similarly affected by these partner characteristics. Gender differences, however, did emerge in the subjects' estimates of the effects of these characteristics on their attraction. Consistent with sex role stereotypes, males placed greater emphasis than females on physical attractiveness, and females placed greater emphasis than males on earning potential and expressiveness. The discrepancy between the experimental results and the subjects' perceptions of how the factors affected their attraction were interpreted to indicate that people may not be aware of what attracts them to another and may use implicit causal theories provided by the culture to explain their attraction responses.
Previous studies have failed to find support for the hypothesis, derived from Level of Aspiration Theory, that individuals chose to date those whose “social desirability” level is similar to their own. In the present experiments, which were designed to test the matching hypothesis, the salience of possible rejection by the dating choice was varied. Both experiments found support for the principle of matching in social choice. This support was obtained, however, not just under conditions in which rejection was presumably salient but for all conditions of choice. This and additional findings were discussed.
Previous research has shown that males value a potential partner’s physical attractiveness more than females do, whereas females value a potential partner’s socioeconomic status (SES) more than males do. But are men really so unconcerned about a potential partner’s SES? Five studies revealed that men do integrate information about a woman’s SES into their decisions on whether to consider her as a romantic partner or not. Results consistently demonstrated that male participants preferred women with lower SES. Female participants, in contrast, preferred men with higher SES. These sex differences were more pronounced when a long-term romantic relationship rather than a one-night stand was being considered. In addition, men’s lower reported likelihood of romantic contact with a woman with high SES was due to her high educational level rather than her high income. Mediational analyses showed that men perceived a potential partner with high educational level as less likeable and less faithful, and thus reported less likelihood of romantic contact.
Male subjects differing in social desirability (likableness, physical attractiveness) chose a date from an array of females of three levels of physical attractiveness. Choices were made under two conditions: one where acceptance was assured regardless of whom subject chose; the other where acceptance was left ambiguous. The findings were as follows: (a) subjects selected a more physically attractive female when assured of acceptance than when acceptance was left ambiguous; (b) subjects estimated that highly physically attractive females were less likely to accept them as a date than were either moderately physically attractive or physically unattractive females; (c) subjects' self-ratings of their likableness were not related to the physical attractiveness of their choices under either choice condition nor to their estimates of their chances that the females would accept them as a date; and (d) subjects' self-evaluated physical attractiveness, although unrelated to the physical attractiveness of the subjects' choices, did relate to subjects' estimates of their chances of acceptance. Highly physically attractive subjects estimated their chances of acceptance as better than did subjects who considered themselves low in physical attractiveness. The implications of the findings for the “matching hypothesis” are discussed.
Evolutionary and sociocultural theories of mate selection preferences contend that men place greater value on physical attractiveness than do women. Thus, meta-analyses were conducted of findings from 5 research paradigms that have the hypothesis: (a)questionnaire studies, (b) analyses of lonely hearts advertisments, (c) studies that correlate attractiveness with opposite-sex popularity, (d) studies that correlate attractiveness with liking by a dyadic interaction partner, and (e) experiments that manipulate the attractiveness and similarity of an opposite-sex stranger. The anticipated sex difference emerged in all five meta-analyses, although it was larger in research that examine self-reprots than in research that examined social behavior.
The authors proposed that personal feelings of self-esteem foster the level of confidence in a partner's regard critical for satisfying attachments. Dating and married couples described themselves, their partners, how they thought their partners saw them, and how they wanted their partners to see them on a variety of interpersonal qualities. The results revealed that low self-esteem individuals dramatically underestimated how positively their partners saw them. Such unwarranted and unwanted insecurities were associated with less generous perceptions of partners and lower relationship well-being. The converse was true for high self-esteem individuals. A longitudinal examination of the dating couples revealed that the vulnerabilities of lows were only exacerbated over time. A dependency regulation model is proposed, wherein felt security in a partner's perceived regard is suggested as a prime mechanism linking self-esteem to relational well-being.
Four studies investigated the importance of objective and subjective attributes to mate selection. This research tested whether perceivers' objective physical attractiveness influenced how they evaluated the physical attractiveness of others and, if considered, may provide a parsimonious account for matching in mate selection. Study 1 (N = 102) demonstrated that ratings of targets' attractiveness decreased as perceivers' objective physical attractiveness increased. Studies 2 (N = 89) and 3 (N = 68) revealed that as perceivers' objective physical attractiveness increased, reductions in expected satisfaction and rejection were mediated by perceivers' reduced assessments of targets' attractiveness. Study 4 (N = 114) produced patterns of matching by finding that attractive perceivers expected to date more attractive targets while unattractive perceivers expected to date less attractive targets. This research emphasizes the importance of objective physical attractiveness to target evaluations and describes how matching results from the combined influence of objective and subjective attributes.