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Experiments on determinants of interpersonal attractiveness.

Question 1 of 6

Conceptual 

What does Aronson say is one of the most powerful determinants of whether you will like another person?

a. If that person likes you 

Attitudinal similarities, self esteem, physical attractiveness may be some of the determinants for a person liking another, but reciprocation is the most powerful determinant. A person will like another if that person likes him or her. Liking back is a show of affection reciprocation. Additionally, studies by Hallinan show that friendship fades when it is not reciprocated.

 Question 2 of 6

Applied 

Suppose you are observing a highly popular and well respected politician and a college student eat lunch. Both proceed to spill gravy on their neckties. Generalizing from the research cited in Aronson, your liking of the politician will most likely___?___ and your liking of the college student will ___?___. 

b. Increase; decrease 

Studies suggest that high degree of competence or superiority makes a person appear attractive and evidence of weaknesses increases the attractiveness further. In this case, a politician being in superior and competitive position is attractive; spilling gravy on the neckties looks more human and therefore increases the attractiveness for the politician further. On the other hand, an average person like a college student is not as attractive and any evidence of weakness leads to a reduction in the attractiveness.

Question 3 of 6

Research/Textbook 

Aronson’s text describes an experiment in which subjects watch a victim supposedly receive electric shocks. Subjects were given the opportunity to vote as to whether the victim should continue to receive the shocks, and the shocks were either terminated or not. What was the outcome of that experiment in terms of liking the victim? 

Subjects who found the victim attractive voted for the termination of the shocks while those who found the victim an attractive wanted the victim to continue receiving the shocks. Schechter and Singer (1962) proposed that when people become physiologically aroused by one stimulus, their emotional response to another stimulus is heightened. Subjects who found the victim attractive voted for the termination of the shocks because they were aroused by the physical attractiveness of the victim. The subjects who did not vote for the termination of the shocks were not positively aroused by the victim’s attractiveness.

Question 4 of 6

Research/Reader

Article 37 

Explain why it was that Dutton and Aron found it necessary to conduct a third 

experiment, this time in a laboratory setting, to control for what possible potential 

confounding factor? 

Dutton and Aron strongly felt that arousal could be mis-attributed and therefore found it necessary to conduct a laboratory experiment to prove it. In the laboratory, they manipulated fear by threatening participants with different levels of shock. Dutton and Aron found out that fear from an extraneous source can heighten attraction.

Question 5 of 6

Personal Relevance 

Explain a situation in which you heard it said or someone said to you something 

that started a conflict or became a confrontation. Explain how it made you feel. 

Next, describe how the confrontation or conversation could be re-written using “Straight Talk”. 

I have been in several situations where my feelings were hurt. The most hurtful was when my best friend called me mean before the whole class. Being led by my anger I confronted her and it turned into a fight.

The confrontation could be well handled if I stated my feelings to my best friend. Giving her a chance to explain her reasons for being judgmental in her utterance could resolve the conflict more peacefully.

Question 6 of 6

According to the Aronson textbook in Chapter 8, why is it important to express 

one’s feelings rather than one’s judgments about another person?

According to Aronson expressing one’s feelings about another person is more important than expressing one’s judgement of the same person because expression of true feelings cannot be as hurtful as an expression of a judgement. Feelings are at the heart of effective communication and therefore vital in every relationship.

REFERENCES

Aronson, Elliot. The Social Animal (7th ed). New York: W.H. Freeman, 1992. Print