Question 1

Newcomb's (1961) classic study on attraction in which he set up an experimental college dormitory revealed that

Accepted Answer

Newcomb's study found that similarity in backgrounds and attitudes was a significant factor in the formation of friendships, indicating that people tend to like others who are similar to themselves.

Question 2

When people prefer those who are selective in their social choices over the ones who are readily available, it is due to the

Accepted Answer

The hard-to-get effect explains the phenomenon where people are more attracted to individuals who are selective or harder to obtain, as opposed to those who are readily available or eager to please. This is because being selective is often interpreted as a sign of higher value or desirability.

Question 3

Rosenbaum (1986) argues that social psychologists overestimate the role of attitudinal similarity in attraction, and suggests that it is not that similarity creates attraction but that

Accepted Answer

Rosenbaum (1986) posits that it's not so much that similarity leads to attraction, but rather that dissimilarity leads to repulsion, suggesting a nuanced view on how relationships form and develop based on perceived similarities and differences.

Question 4

Which of the following statements regarding physically attractive people is false ?

Accepted Answer

Research suggests that physical attractiveness does not necessarily correlate with higher self-esteem. Attractive individuals may experience self-doubt or attribute positive feedback to their looks rather than their abilities, which can affect their self-esteem.

Question 5

Traci is used to people telling her how attractive she is. Research suggests that if she receives positive feedback on a paper she writes for class, she will be most likely to believe that the feedback is genuine and feel good about it if

Accepted Answer

Research suggests that feedback is perceived as more genuine and is more positively received when it is believed to be unbiased. If the person grading Traci's paper has never seen her before, their feedback is less likely to be influenced by her appearance, making it seem more genuine to her.

Question 6

Pinel and colleagues (2006) refer to "I-sharing" as an important form of similarity whereby individuals share

Accepted Answer

"I-sharing" refers to the moment when two or more individuals feel they have shared the same subjective experience. This concept emphasizes the importance of experiencing events in a similar subjective manner, rather than sharing objective traits or skills.

Question 7

In relationships, the mutual exchange between what we give and what we receive is called

Accepted Answer

Reciprocity in relationships refers to the mutual exchange of favors, goods, or services, where both parties benefit from giving and receiving. It's a foundational concept in social psychology, emphasizing the balance and fairness in interpersonal exchanges.

Question 8

Which of the following is not one of the four types of similarity most relevant to predicting interpersonal attraction?

Accepted Answer

Similarity in eye and hair color is not typically considered a relevant factor in predicting interpersonal attraction in psychological studies. The other options (similarity in subjective experience, attitudes, and demographics) are recognized as significant factors influencing interpersonal attraction.

Question 9

Popular wisdom is often contradictory, as with the following two sayings: (1) "opposites attract" and (2) "birds of a feather flock together." Research on the relationship between similarity and liking suggests that

Accepted Answer

Research consistently shows that similarity in attitudes, values, and interests significantly predicts attraction, making "birds of a feather flock together" (statement #2) more accurate in describing human relationships.

Question 10

Which of the following statements describes an example of the what-is-beautiful-is-good stereotype?

Accepted Answer

The what-is-beautiful-is-good stereotype suggests that people attribute positive qualities and characteristics to those who are physically attractive. Choice D, where heroes are depicted as attractive and villains as ugly in children's movies, directly reflects this stereotype by implying that good characters are also physically appealing.

Question 11

Using MRI, Tsukiura and Capeza (2011) found biological evidence for the

Accepted Answer

Tsukiura and Cabeza (2011) found biological evidence supporting the "what-is-beautiful-is-good" stereotype, which suggests that people tend to attribute positive qualities and traits to individuals whom they perceive as physically attractive. This was demonstrated through MRI studies showing specific brain activity patterns when participants viewed attractive faces.

Question 12

The belief that physically attractive individuals also possess desirable personality characteristics is called the

Accepted Answer

The "what-is-beautiful-is-good stereotype" refers to the cognitive bias that leads people to attribute positive qualities and desirable personality traits to individuals who are physically attractive. This stereotype suggests that people generally assume that those who are good-looking are also good-natured, kind, intelligent, and successful, among other positive attributes.

Question 13

Ronnie believes that people desire and form relationships with others who are similar in terms of physical attractiveness. In terms of similarity and attractiveness, he subscribes to the

Accepted Answer

The matching hypothesis posits that individuals are more likely to form and succeed in a committed relationship with someone who is equally attractive. This theory suggests that people are more likely to pair up with others who are of similar levels of physical attractiveness.

Question 14

Brandon likes Brianna, but Brandon doesn't like Autumn. The relationship among these three individuals would be balanced if

Accepted Answer

According to balance theory, a triangle relationship is balanced if there are either three positive links or two negative and one positive link. Since Brandon likes Brianna (positive) but doesn't like Autumn (negative), for the relationship to be balanced, Brianna also not liking Autumn (negative) would create two negatives and one positive, achieving balance.

Question 15

Walster et al. (1966) randomly matched students for a dance. At the end of the evening, students indicated how satisfied they were with their dates. The strongest predictor of satisfaction was

Accepted Answer

Physical attractiveness was found to be the strongest predictor of satisfaction in the study by Walster et al. (1966), where students were randomly matched for a dance and later asked about their satisfaction with their dates.

Question 16

Which of the following best reflects the benefits and cost of being attractive?

Accepted Answer

Attractiveness can indeed confer social advantages, but it may also lead attractive individuals to question the genuineness of compliments about their achievements, wondering if praise is based on their looks rather than their actual work or talents.

Question 17

Snyder and colleagues (1977) ran a study in which mixed-gender pairs had a phone conversation. Male participants were given either an attractive or unattractive photo of their conversation partner. Which of the following statements about the study findings is false ?

Accepted Answer

The study found that the men's behavior and perceptions were influenced by their belief about the women's attractiveness, not by the women's actual level of attractiveness. This means that the outcome of the conversation was more influenced by what the men believed about the women's attractiveness than by the women's actual attractiveness.

Question 18

According to the two-stage model of attraction proposed by Byrne et al. (1986), people

Accepted Answer

The two-stage model of attraction suggests that people initially avoid those who are dissimilar and then among the remaining individuals, they approach those who are most similar to themselves.

Question 19

Which of the following statements does not support the hard-to-get effect?

Accepted Answer

We like the idea of past romantic interests knowing that we are with another attractive person is not related to the hard-to-get effect.

Question 20

Which of the following statements is true of attitude similarity and attraction?

Accepted Answer

Attitude similarity and attraction often have a slower time course because it typically requires time for individuals to discover and appreciate the common attitudes and beliefs they share with others, which then contributes to the attraction.

Quiz 9: Attraction and Close Relationships