Interpersonal attraction and close relationships - summary of chapter 11 of cultural psychology

Cultural psychology
Chapter 11
Interpersonal attraction and close relationships

Interpersonal attraction

Physical attractiveness

There is cultural variation in what is viewed as attractive.

Around the world, physical attractiveness is a more significant factor in interpersonal attraction for women than it is for men.

Characteristics of physical attractiveness that appear to be universal are: 1) Complexion of the face. Skin that looks free of blemishes, blotches, sores, and rashes is viewed as more attractive. These are traits associated with health. 2) Bilateral symmetry. We are most attracted to people whose left sides of the bodies and faces look identical to their right sides. This can be seen as an indicator of developmental stability. This preference is stronger in hunting-gathering populations. 3) Attractive faces tend to be average. Facial features that are close to the average in size and in configuration are perceived as more attractive. People with average-size features are less likely to have genetic abnormalities, thus reflecting genetic health. Humans can quickly process something that resembles a prototype, and quick processing is associated with good feelings and feelings of attraction. This also holds in terms of how people view the attractiveness of those from other cultures. Multiracial faces are perceived as attractive.

The attractiveness of average features does not seem to generalize well to perception of bodies. The kinds of bodies that tend to be seen as most attractive are often those that depart considerably from the average.

One aspect of people’s bodies that varies in its perceived attractiveness across cultures is weight. The cultural differences in standards of beauty for female bodies differ not just across historical contexts but across current cultures as well.

Other bases of interpersonal attraction

The propinquity effect holds that people are more likely to become friends with people with whom they frequently interact.

The mere exposure effect holds that the more we are exposed to a stimulus, the more we are attracted to it. The attraction to frequently encountered stimuli appears to be due to the pleasant associations developed through classical conditioning when one learns that a stimulus is not threatening, and to the pleasant affect associated with easy-to-process stimuli. This appears to be a cultural universal.

Similarity-attraction effect

The similarity-attraction effect holds that people tend to be attracted to those who are most like themselves. This effect is stronger in the West.

Close relationships

There are no cultures in which people live as lone individuals.

The four elementary forms of relationships

Fiske claims that there is some underlying structure that is common to all forms of relationships in the world. All relationships are based on one or more of four basic elements of sociality: 1) Communal sharing, the members of a group emphasize their common identity rather than consider their idiosyncrasies. In communal sharing, every person is treated the same. The resources tend to be pooled as belonging to the larger whole that transcends each of the individual members. 2) Authority ranking, within authority-ranking relationships, people are linearly ordered along a hierarchical social dimension. People with higher ranking have prestige and privileges that those with lower ranking do not. Subordinates are often entitled to receive protection and care from those above. 3)  Equality matching, based on the idea of balance and reciprocity. People keep track of what is exchanged and are motivated to pay back what has been exchanged in equivalent terms. The relative position of individuals does not matter. 4) Market pricing, concerned with proportionality and ratios. All the features of benefits that are exchanged can be reduced to a single underlying dimension. Both sides of the exchange usually occur at once, and different kinds of goods can be exchanged. Members of a party calculate the ratios of the goods that are exchanged so that the transaction will be equivalent in value for both parties. The relative status of individuals is irrelevant.

Despite the hypothesized universal presence of these elements, there is much cultural variation in the extent to which each operates.

Friends and enemies

Those people with more independent views of self perceive the self as fundamentally disconnected from others. The only reason those people would form connections with others is because they choose to do so. Relationships form between two people with independent self-concepts when the people involved decide that it is their advantage to form a relationship.

Relational mobility

A characteristic of many cultures contexts in which independent selves predominate is that people have the freedom to move between relationships. They have high relational mobility. Their relational ties are flexible enough, and opportunities for new relationships are available enough, that they feel they can find new relationships and not feel overly bound to their old relationships.

The interdependent self is primarily defined on the basis of one’s close relationships. Ingroup relationships are not so much chosen by individuals as they are perceived to exist by default, whether one likes them or not. They are not up for negotiation. A person’s relationships are tied to the interpersonal networks within which (s)he exists. In interdependent contexts people do not so much choose whom they will have relationships with. Given the unconditional and lasting attitudes toward relationships in these contexts, people have low relational mobility. But, relationships in low-mobility contexts are not always positive. If people don’t get alone, they have no choice to not have a relationship.

People from different cultures form relationships for different reasons. Relationships in high-relational-mobility contexts are entered into, and are maintained, on a mutually voluntary basis. Relationships in low-relational-mobile contexts tend to be viewed in unconditional terms.

The meaning of friendship varies across cultures. In collectivistic cultures, an important aspect of friendship is to provide each other with advice, and it is frequently offered regardless of whether one’s friend wants to receive it It is perceived to involve more obligations.

Being attractive is more important in a high-relational-mobility context. People in these contexts work harder to maintain their existing relationships.

Residential mobility

In some contexts people are literally more physically mobile. Living in a context in which one moves relatively frequently changes the kinds of relationships that people have and affects a variety of other attitudes and lifestyles.

Simpático

Simpático is an highly valued relationship style in Latin-Americans. This is an emphasis on maintaining harmonious relationships, and making expressive displays of graciousness, hospitality, and personal harmony.

Love

People from all cultures are capable of feeling romantic love.

Arranged marriages

Cultures shapes people’s thinking about romantic love with the existence of arranged versus love marriages. Historically, the majority of marriages around the world have been arranged by families.

There are different kinds of arranged and love marriages around the world. Love is viewed as a necessary feature for a marriage to begin in some cultures, but not in others.

The likelihood that a culture favours arrange over love marriages relates to the dominant kind of family structure in the culture. Romantic love becomes more important in cultures as the strength of extended family ties becomes weaker. The larger number of important family relationships one needs to consider, the more problematic it becomes to ignore their concerns and follow the passions of one’s heart.

Individualism is related to the likelihood that one emphasizes romantic love in marriages. There is a critical role that idealization of one’s partner plays in the experience of romantic love. Positively distorted views of one’s partner should protect one from having to entertain thoughts about the partner’s unlovable characteristics. This avoids dissonance. This idealisation is less emphasized in collectivistic cultures.

In an arranged marriage, the individual approaches the person as his or her new spouse with the expectation of eventually falling in love, and, with  time, they usually do. These people often trust their families as the ones who are positioned to make the best decision about marriage. Arranged marriages are more likely to be successful than love marriages.