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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”