Attraction: Friendship, Love, And Relationships

Concept Paper #3 Attraction

1. Definition and Description of Concept Throughout this section there have been very ambiguous and complicated definitions of attraction. If you look for the definition of attraction in the textbook, it refers you to friendship, love, and relationship. The definition of attraction according to google is "The action or power of evoking interest, pleasure, or liking for someone or something." The reasoning behind attraction is that we as humans are social beings that long for closeness and companionship. For the purpose of this essay, the initial attraction between individuals will be expounded as well as what helps maintain the attraction. There are many factors that contribute to attraction. Some examples of these are proximity, physical attractiveness, similarity, and mutual liking. Often, many of these work cohesively and simultaneously to cause and retain attraction. First, proximity plays a critical role in attraction. The geographic location of two people is a strong indicator of whether they will attract. The likelihood and frequency of crossing paths with someone and striking up a conversation are drastically higher when

This was the study Elaine Hatfield did at the University of Minnesota. For this study, she used 752 incoming freshman and had them meet at a welcome dance. Beforehand, her and her co-workers gave them aptitude and personality tests but assigned them together at random. After the couples talked for two and a half hours, the only factor that contributed to them liking each other was the physical attractiveness of their partner. The result was that "Self-esteem, intelligence, and personality did not affect liking for the dates or subsequent attempts to date them."(Hatfield) This research shows the power that physical attractiveness has on who we are attracted to and who our potential partners