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What Are the Social Factors That Influence Interpersonal Attraction? Discuss in Relation to Relevant Psychological Theories and Studies

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What Are the Social Factors That Influence Interpersonal Attraction? Discuss in Relation to Relevant Psychological Theories and Studies
What are the social factors that influence interpersonal attraction? Discuss in relation to relevant psychological theories and studies

Interpersonal relationships are the close relationships we form with others around us. They range from close romantic relationships up to more casual relationships such as acquaintances or university peers. There are numerous numbers of social factors that may lead to interpersonal attraction such as proximity, physical attractiveness, similarity and reciprocity. There are also numerous theories into attraction and how humans form interpersonal relationships.

Proximity or being close to a person has a big influence on our choice of friends or romantic partners, previous research suggests that the nearer we are to someone the more likely we are to have some sort of interpersonal relationship with them. Festinger, Schachter and Black (1950) found that two-thirds of married graduate students close friends had once lived in the same block of flats as them. Suggesting that the proximity of the graduate students had led them to develop an interpersonal relationship with each other.

Physical attractiveness is also a factor that determines whether or not an individual will form an interpersonal relationship with another person. The first thing one notices about a stranger is their physical appearance. This can include factors such as how they have their hair, their dress sense, if they are well kept or not. There is a general consensus on what is seen as being attractive in society, such as women with baby like faces are seen as attractive (Cunningham 1990), however there are obvious individual differences in what someone finds attractive. Socially people who are physically attractive are perceived as being popular, intelligent, and honest. In a study by Sigall & Ostrove (1975) attractive women were given more lenient court sentences when being prosecuted for a crime which was not related to their attractiveness. However if the



References: Baron, R.A., Byrne, D., & Branscombe, N.R. (2006). Social Psychology (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson. Byrne, D. and Clore, G. L. (1970) A reinforcement model of evaluative processes, Personality: An International Journal 1, 103-28 Byrne, D Cunningham, M.R., Barbee, A.P., & Pike, C.L. (1990). What do women want? Facialmetric assessment of multiple motives in the perception of male and female facial physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 61-72. Dittes, J.E., & Kelley, H.H. (1956). Effects of different conditions of acceptance upon conformity to group norms. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 53, 100-107. Festinger, L., Schachter, S., & Back, K. (1950). Social pressures in informal groups: A study of human factors in housing. New York: Harper. Foa, Edna B., Foa, Uriel G. (1975); Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 19(2), 168-180. Homans, G. C. (1961) Social Behaviour, New York: Harcourt Brace and World Landy, D., & Sigall, H Sigall, H., & Ostrove, N. (1975). Beautiful but dangerous: Effects of offender attractiveness and nature of the crime on juridic judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 410-414. Singh, D. (1993). Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: Role of waist-hip ratio. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 293-307. Walster, E., Aronson, V., Abrahams, D., & Rottmann, L. (1966). Importance of physical attractiveness in dating behaviour. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 508-516. Winch, P. (1958). The Idea of a Social Science and Its Relation to Philosophy. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London.

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