1. Interpersonal Attraction
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

2. WHAT IS INTERPERSONAL ATTRACTION?
It is the desire to approach other people.

3. WHY DO WE HAVE THIS DESIRE?

4. TWO REASONS FOR AFFILIATION
Social Comparison
Social Exchange
 The theory that
 The theory that
proposes that we
evaluate our thoughts
and actions by
comparing them with
those of others.
proposes that we seek
out and maintain those
relationships in which
the rewards exceed the
cost.

5. •
The information that
social comparison
provides is used to
evaluate the self.
•
Social comparison is
most likely when we are
in a state of uncertainty
concerning a relevant
self-aspect.
•
We generally prefer to
compare ourselves with
similar to others.
•
The more similar people
are to us, the more likely
we will be to use the
information gained
through social
comparison in better
understanding ourselves
and future actions.
•
We use social
comparison not only to
judge ourselves, but also
to judge our emotions
and choose our friends.
“When people are deciding whether to
remain in a relationship, they will not
consider the rewards and cost in isolation.”
(Thibaut & Kelley, 1959)

6. MAXIMIZE PLEASURE AND MINIMIZE PAIN

7. Five Core
Social Motives
UNDERSTANDING
BELONGINGNESS
Need for stable and strong
relationships
UNDERSTAND
Need for shared meaning and
prediction
CONTROLLING
BELONGINGNESS
CONTROLLING
Need for perceived contingency
between behavior and outcomes
SELF-ENHANCING
Need for viewing self as basically
worthy or improvable
TRUSTING
Need for viewing others as basically
benign seeing the world as a
benevolent place
TRUSTING
SELF-ENHANCING

8. WE NEED TO BELONG
When this need is
unfulfilled due to social
exclusion or rejection,
we react in a variety of
negative ways, including
increased stress, anxiety,
and self-defeating
thinking and behavior,
which are often followed
by decreased physical
health.

9. What factors
affect
attraction?
•
Close proximity
fosters liking.
•
When anxious or
fearful, we often
seek out others who
are also
experiencing similar
feelings.
Anxious people affiliate with
others who are similarly
anxious in order to compare
emotional states.
Sometimes when anticipating
a fearful event, people prefer
not to be those who are also
fearful.
They prefer someone who has
already experienced the
fearful event and who can tell
them something about it >>
People seek cognitive clarity.

10. PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS STEREOTYPE
 The belief that physically attractive individuals possess a
socially desirable personality traits and lead happier lives
than less attractive persons.
 Good looking people do tend to be less socially anxious,
more socially skilled, and less lonesome than those who
are unattractive (Feingold, 1992).
 There is a self-fulfilling prophecy involved in the physical
attractiveness stereotype.
 The apparent reason physically attractive people tend to
be socially poised and confident is that those interact
with them convey the clear impression that they truly are
interesting and sociable individuals.

11. Matching Hypothesis
 The proposition that
people are attracted to
others who are similar
to them in particular
characteristics.
 The greater the
proportion of similar
attitudes held by
people the greater
their attraction to one
another.
Birds of a feather, flock
together.

12. DESIRE FOR SOCIAL
COMPARISON
Meeting others who share
our views on important
issues makes us feel better
because it reassures us
that the essential aspects
of our self-concept have
social validity.
When others validate our
own self-beliefs through
agreements, we should
develop a positive attitude
towards them.
AFFINITY WITH
SIMILAR OTHERS IS
PART OF
EVOLUTIONARY
HERITAGE
Our ancestors may have
used similarity cues to
detect those who are
genetically similar to
themselves.
WE LIKE THAT WHICH
IS FAMILIAR
It may have been
evolutionary adaptive to
perceive unfamiliar others
with caution and distrust
because of the dangers
inherent in dealing with
the unfamiliar.
We perceive similar others
as attractive because they
mimic familiarity.

13. BALANCE THEORY
 Matching hypothesis
is due to the need for
the consistency.
 Balance Theory states
that people desire
cognitive consistency
or balance in their
thoughts and feelings
and social
relationships.

14. We are attracted to others who
share our attitudes, values, and
beliefs, and we may even enter
into a committed relationships
with these individuals.
Once committed to these
relationships, people with similar
personalities may be better able
than those with different
personalities to coordinate their
daily activities and thereby avoid
the friction and conflict that
lowers relationship satisfaction.
How does this work?
LIKING THOSE WHO LIKE US
• If we think others like us, we tend to act
in ways that increase the likelihood that
they will indeed like us.
• If we think that they dislike us, our
subsequent interaction style may fulfill
the negative prophecy even if it is based
on false information.