Attraction

There will be a certain time where one will develope feelings. This essay will discuss feelings on attraction. Attraction is defined as the feeling of liking someone, and has also been considered a force which attracts bodies or individuals together. There are numerous theories based on attraction. This essay will only focus on three particular theories of attraction, which are proximity, physical attractiveness, and similarity.

The first theory of attraction is proximity- which is defined as geographic closeness- and it increases the possibility of an individual being attracted to another due to the amount of exposure we receive from a stimulus (Myers, 2004). This stimulus includes getting more familiar to a stranger's face, an unfamiliar place, or even the tune of a song. Thus, the more exposure individuals get, the more attracted they will feel towards another (Zajonc, 1968; Bornstein, 1989; Harmon-Jones & Allen, 2001 cited in Saul Kassin; Moreland & Zajonc, 1982; Zajonc, 2001; Nuttin, 1987). For example, research has shown that after marrying another person, after residing in the same residential area, after sitting nearby in the same class, after working in the same office and even after sharing the same car park, there is an increase in attraction- due to proximity (Myers, 2004). In other words, proximity determines whether or not two people will ultimately become friends. This is because the closer we are to an individual, the more likely we will be attracted to them. To prove this theory, a study was carried out on married graduate students who were randomly assigned to flat units in 17 different two-story buildings. Ultimately, two-thirds of their closest friends were found to live in the same building, and the possibility of close friends living on the same floor was twice as high (Festinger, Schachter and Back, 1950 cited in Eysenck, 2004). This shows that proximity increases the probability of being attracted to one another. Thus psychologists argue that when there are close levels of proximity between individuals, the tendency of an individual being attracted to another individual will increase.

The second theory discussed is physical attraction. Physical attraction is described as an individual's physical appearance or their exterior beauty (Eysenck, 2004). For example, men may be seen as attractive by women if they had square jaws, small eyes, and thin lips- whereas women may be seen as attractive by men if their faces were similar to those of young children (Cunningham, 1986 cited in Eysenck, 2004). This shows that men who looked mature were perceived as attractive whereas younger looking women were perceived as attractive. To prove the physical attractiveness theory, a study was carried out by Elaine Hatfield and her co-workers- where they selected students from the University of Minnesota randomly for a Welcome Week dance. It was found that men and women equally preferred dates who were more physically attractive (Walster & others, 1996 cited in Myers 2004 ). Matching hypotheses state that more often that not, individuals search for individuals who are rated as possessing similar qualities of attractiveness and social equality (Kalick & Hamilton, 1986 cited in Santrock, 2005). The reason why this occurs is because individuals are fearful of being rejected by those who are physically more attractive than they are (Bernstein and others, 1982 cited in Rathus, 1996). Besides that, physical attractiveness has a renowned effect on an individual. An example of this are when individuals who are more physically attractive tend to be perceived as healthier, happier, more sensitive, more successful and more socially skilled (Eagly & others, 1991; Feingold, 1992; Hatfield & Sprecher, 1986 cited in Myers 2004). Individuals seem to perceive this because an attractive person is assumed to possess many positive traits. In another