Origin of attraction

ORIGIN OF ATTRACTION

Biological level of analysis

Biological level of analysis Animals and humans share a lot of similar

behaviour when attracted to each other Evolutionary theories argue that the

purpose is to procreate – pass on ones genes!

In the animal kingdom it is common that the males fight

over the females

The Nature of Human relationships (our emotion of being in love)

The result of a biomedical cocktail according to Fischer (2004) who argues

that the symptoms exhibited in human romantic passion indicate that dopamine, adrenaline, and serotonin all play an important role.

Fischer argues that love is not an emotion, but a motivation system – designed to enable us to mate (much like other animals)

The love cocktail Adrenaline: makes your heart race, your palms

become sweaty… (stress hormone) high energy, less need of sleep and food and more focused attention on the potential mate

Serotonin: a neurotransmitter that may be involved in love – not possible to document the exact role in romantic love though

Fischer et al 2003 – used fMRI to investigate the blood flow in 20 men and women to compare brain activity and it was more active in the brain’s reward system when watching their beloved ones

The role of hormones in bonding

Modern research has discovered that two hormones help to increase the bond between lovers

Adult attachment – hormones oxytocin and vasopressin

Oxytocin – released in men and women during touching and sex

Also during childbirth – could explain the “strong” bond between mother and child, or at least secure it – experiments done on rats which confirmed these findings

vasopressin Another important hormone for long-term

commitment Also released during sex Animals that have more sex than

necessary (humans) prairie voles for example, test to suppress the effect of vasopressinWhat happened?

Evolutionary explanations Jealousy, David Buss - may be biologically based

– to optimize the potential for reproduction

Low (1990) – correlation between parasites and the degree of polygyny –higher the higher

Another Buss study analysed facial characteristics such as high cheekbones, masculine chin (symmetrical facial features or not)

Read the dirty shirt study by Wedekind 1995 and summarize it with one paragraph

Origins of attraction: the cognitive level of analysis

Relates to perception and social cognition If we perceive another person as similar

to oneself –could be the explanation behind the attraction

Opposites attract – false! Couples tend to be similar in age, religion, social class, cultural background, personality, education, intelligence, physical attractiveness, attitudes…

Activity Write down: Describe the psychological

characteristics, values, and attitudes of your ideal romantic partner, without thinking of anyone in particular

Activity No, write down: Describe yourself

Shared interests and also the other person’s support for one’s own views and attitudes (rewarding)

Markey et al (2000) investigated to which similarity is a factor in the way people choose partners.

A large sample of young people Asked to describe their ideal partner Then to describe themselves Results?

Results showed similar results – A follow up study with couples showed

the same Though only on Americans Higher the match – influence how the

relationship progress Do Research in psychology and answer

the questions 1-4 on p. 277 for tomorrow

ORIGINS OF ATTRACTION

Sociocultural level of analysis

Similarity also has do with same social and cultural norms

How contact and interaction take place makes a difference/ or influence

Frequency of interacting is a good prediction of liking and also if one lived close (dormitories, elderly homes, campuses, work, school…right Anna?)

Interaction provide us with connectedness and attachment and this is a human need,

Zajonc – the mere exposure effect

THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN THE FORMATION AND MAINTENANCE OF RELATIONSHIPS

Love – a different meaning in different cultures

Marriage – comes after love or before? Depends on the culture

Buss (1994) largest cross-cultural studies on relationships – 10 000 from 37 cultures

Some aspects were similar – such as sex, but a lot were different such as where they ranked “love”