 Physical attractiveness

 Proximity
 Similarity in the different aspects
 Effect of similarity on the
interpersonal attraction
 THEORIES
 Social exchange theories
 Evolutionary theories
 Reciprocity of the liking rules
 Rewards Theory
INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION
 INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION

Interpersonal attraction is the attraction between

people which leads to friendships and romantic
relationships. The study of interpersonal attraction is
a major area of research in social psychology.
 INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION
 Interpersonal attraction has been an important topic of research in
psychology, because humans are social animals, and attraction serves an
important function in forming a social network
 In assessing the nature of attraction, psychologists have used methods
such as questionnaires, survey, and rating scale to determine level of
one’s attraction toward another.
 When measuring interpersonal attraction, one must refer to the qualities
of the attracted as well as the qualities of the attractor to achieve
predictive accuracy.
 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS (PA)
 Even though physical attractiveness is unrelated to objective
measure of internal qualities such as intelligence and personality,
many researches indicate that bias for beauty is pervasive in
society
 PA Stereotype: Physically attractive people are perceived to be
more sociable, successful, happy, dominant, sexually warm,
mentally healthy, intelligent, and socially skilled than those who are
unattractive.
 In reality, PA has no correlation with intelligence, dominance, self-
esteem & mental health
 PROPINQUITY OR PROXIMITY
 The more we see and interact with a person, the more likely he
or she is to become our friend or intimate partner. There are
exceptions to this.
 Other things being equal, the closer two individuals are located
geographically, the more likely it is that they will be attracted to
each other.
 It appears that there is a somewhat greater tendency for
proximity to breed attraction than hostility
 PROPINQUITY OR PROXIMITY

 Proximity is probably correlated with attraction (or

repulsion) because proximity allows one to obtain an
increased amount of information about the other person & to
experience rewards or punishments from the other.
 There is some suggestive evidence that proximity in and of
itself, may facilitate attraction as a by-product of the
individual’s desire for cognitive consistency
 SIMILARITY
 Perceived similarity develops for someone to rate others as
similar to themselves in ongoing relationship. Such perception
is either self serving/friendship or relationship serving/
romantic
 Also, perceived similarity was found to be greater than actual
similarity in predicting interpersonal attraction
 Similarity in physical appearance, attitudes, interpersonal style,
social & cultural background, personality, interests & activities
preferences, communication or social skills leads to attraction
 SIMILARITY
 Similarity has effects on starting a relationship by
initial attraction to know each other.
 High attitude similarity results in a significant
increase in initial attraction to the target person
 High attitude dissimilarity results in a decrease of
initial attraction.
 Similarity also promotes relationship commitment.
 COMPLEMENTARY
• The model of complementarity explains whether “birds of a
feather flock together” or “opposites attract”.
• Studies show that complementary interaction between two
partners increases their attractiveness to each other.
• Complementary partners preferred closer interpersonal
relationship than non-complementary ones. Couples who
reported the highest level of loving and harmonious relationship
were more dissimilar in dominance than couples who scored
lower in relationship quality.
 SIMILARITY OR COMPLEMENTARY?
• Similarity seems to carry considerable weight in initial attraction, while
complementarity assumes importance as the relationship develops over
time.
• Perception and actual behaviour might not be congruent with each other.
There were cases that dominant people perceived their partners to be
similarly dominant, yet in the eyes of independent observers, the actual
behaviour of their partner was submissive, in other words, complementary
to them.
• Why do people perceive their romantic partners to be similar to them
despite evidence to the contrary ? The reason remains unclear, pending
further research.
 SOCIAL EXCHANGE THEORY
• People’s feelings toward a potential partner are dependent on their
perception of rewards and costs, the kind of relationships they deserve,
and their likelihood for having a healthier relationship with someone else.
• Rewards are the part of a relationship that makes it worthwhile and
enjoyable.
• A cost is something that can cause irritation like a friend overstaying his
welcome.
• Comparison level is also taken into account during a relationship.
• Lastly, the comparison of alternatives means that satisfaction is conditional
on the chance that a person could replace the relationship with a more
desirable one.
 EVOLUTIONARY THEORY
• The evolutionary theory of human interpersonal attraction
states that opposite-sex attraction most often occurs when
someone has physical features indicating that he or she is very
fertile.
• The ability to provide resources and protection might also be
sought because the underlying traits are likely to be passed on
to male offspring.
• Evolutionary theory also suggests that people whose physical
features suggest they are healthy are seen as more attractive.
 THE RECIPROCITY-OF-LIKING RULE
• A person may come to like another and then, as a consequence of
his liking, come to perceive that the other person likes him. In
such a case, the liking for the other is not induced by the other
person’s providing the reward of esteem, but rather by some
other determinant of interpersonal attraction.

• One may become attracted to another as a consequence of his

discovery that the other person likes him. Such a process would
support the notion that esteem constitutes a reward, and we are
attracted to people who give such a reward.
 THE REWARD EFFECT

• As a strategy of interpersonal attraction if one person in the

interaction rewards the other for something the latter has
done, it enhances the interpersonal relationship.
• In the process it also reduces many of the negative emotional
states of the person concerned.
• One will like those who reward them and dislike those who
punish.
 ANXIETY
• when individuals feel anxious, afraid, lonely or unsure of
themselves, the sheer presence of others is particularly
rewarding
• Anxious people apparently do not wish to be in the company of
just any other person. Instead, anxious individuals seem to
prefer to associate with people who are in a situation similar to
their -own.
Escape. When one is in a stressful situation, perhaps he anticipates
that talking to others in the same situation may help him figure
out a way to avoid the pain altogether.
 ANXIETY
Cognitive clarity. There is some evidence that individuals in
ambiguous or novel situations will desire to talk with
knowledgable others in order to gain some understanding of an
otherwise incomprehensible event.
Direct anxiety reduction. People often comfort and reassure one
another.
Indirect anxiety reduction. An effective device for reducing anxiety
is to “get one’s mind off one’s troubles.”
Self-evaluation. People often use other people in order to evaluate
the reasonableness of their own emotions and feelings.
 STRESS
• The presence of others may help eliminate an
individual’s discomfort when he is experiencing
stress, provides an additional reason why individuals
might learn to affiliate with others in stressful
circumstances.
 SOCIAL ISOLATION
1. The reported pain of the isolation experience seems typically to bear a
no monotonic relationship to time. Pain increases to a maximum in
many cases and then decreases sharply. This decrease in pain is
frequently marked by onset of the state of apathy, sometimes so severe
as to resemble a schizophrenic state of withdrawal and detachment.
2. There seems to be a stronger tendency for those in isolation to think,
dream, and occasionally to hallucinate about people.
3. Those isolates who are able to keep themselves occupied with
distracting activities appear to suffer less and to be less prone to
develop apathy.0
 SELF ESTEEM
Clinicians seem to agree that a high
self-esteem person is more receptive
to another’s love than is an
individual with lower self-esteem