Power of Love and Relationships

1056 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Does social media impact body image

Power of Love and relationships

The first aspect of forming a social bond is an attraction, and there are many different ways in which people are attracted to those around them. Attraction refers to positive feelings you have for another person, it can be liking, love, friendships, and lust. When it comes to love and relationships, attractions are important. One would think that physical attraction is aspect number one and research shows that the romantic attraction is primarily determined from physical attraction. (Hadjistavropoulos, T. (1994).) Men look at attraction differently than women, and research finds that men are more impacted by social norms that make it appropriate to value physical attractiveness. However, studies show that women look for other attractors such as stability and personality. (Feingold, 1990). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder is the coined phrase. What is attractive to some may not be attractive to others. All aspects of beauty differ from person to person, therefore, physical attraction will differ. This happens because we all have different standards in measuring beauty.

Proximity is another consideration in attraction. Who we are close to is how we meet and become friends. If you are exposed to someone over time you tend to build a relationship. Similarity, people also choose partners that are similar to themselves such as age, race, religion, social class, religion, education, intelligence and attitude. (Feenstra, 2011). We choose friendships as well based on these values and characteristics. You want someone in your life that you have something in common with. You have heard "opposites attract," well do they? One person may like rock music and the other classical. One in the relati...

... middle of paper ...

...

References

Feenstra, Jennifer S. (2011) Christian Vocation: Defining Relations with Identity Status, College Adjustment, and Spiritually, Journal of Psychology and Theology , Vol. 36, No. 2

Feingold, A. (1990). Gender differences in effects of physical attractiveness on romantic attraction: A comparison across five research paradigms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 59:5, 981-993.

Grassian,S. Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement, 22 Wash. U. J. L. & Pol’y325 (2006),

http://digitalcommons.law.wustl.edu/wujlp/vol22/iss1/24

Haddaway – What Is Love – Austriancharts.at (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 23 January 2014.

Hadjistavropoulos, T. (1994). The underestimation of the role of physical attractiveness in dating preferences: Ignorance or taboo? Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science. 26:2, 298-318.

Show More
Related

  • Cult of Beauty in Miami

    1187 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hosoda, M., Stone-Romero, E. F., & Coats, G. “The effects of physical attractiveness on job-related outcomes: A meta-analysis of experimental studies”. Personnel Psychology, 56 (2003): 431-462.

    Read More

  • Critical Evaluationg of Psychological Theories of Interpersonal Attraction

    1998 Words  | 4 Pages

    Physical Attractiveness And Courtship. Sexual Behaviour, I, 22-25 Walster, E. (1966) Importance Of Physical Attractiveness In Dating Behaviour. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 4, 508-516 Wilson, G. (1983) QED:The Science Of Sexual Attraction, BBC Television.

    Read More

  • Two Or Three Things I Know For Sure

    1042 Words  | 3 Pages

    know beauty in any form”(86). We are so conditioned to see female beauty as what men

    Read More

  • Physical Beauty In Mr. Ryder's The Wife Of His Youth

    1523 Words  | 4 Pages

    There is a famous saying that states, “ we should not judge a book by its cover”, but oftentimes the first thing noticed on a person is their looks. One’s “physical beauty” strongly influences people’s first impressions of them. As a whole, we tend to assume that pretty people are more likeable and better people than those who are unattractive. Around the world, we believe that what is beautiful is good. There is a general consensus within a culture about what is considered physically appealing and beautiful. “Physical beauty” is associated with being more sociable, intelligent, and even socially skilled. Society shares this common notion of who has and who does not have “physical beauty”. Thus, “physical beauty”, as seen

    Read More

  • Social Influences on Family Formation

    1668 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sprecher, Susan, Quintin Sullivan, and Elaine Hatfield. 1994. “Mate Selection Preferences: Gender Differences Examined in a National Sample.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 66, 6: 1074-1080.

    Read More

  • What Meets The Eye David Akst Analysis

    1100 Words  | 3 Pages

    on a scale from 1 to 3, the importance men gave to good looks rose from 1.50 to 2.11. But for women, the importance of good looks in men rose from 0.94 to 1.67. In other words, women in 1989 considered a man look’s more important than men considered women’s looks 50 years earlier

    Read More

  • The Power of Relationships

    1336 Words  | 3 Pages

    Relationships between two people can have a strong bond and through poetry can have an everlasting life. The relationship can be between a mother and a child, a man and a woman, or of one person reaching out to their love. No matter what kind of relationship there is, the bond between the two people is shown through literary devices to enhance the romantic impression upon the reader. Through Dudley Randall’s “Ballad of Birmingham,” Ben Jonson’s “To Celia,” and William Shakespeare’s “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” relationships are viewed as a powerful bond, an everlasting love, and even a romantic hymn.

    Read More

  • Ideal Beauty Essay

    1899 Words  | 4 Pages

    The perception of the "ideal beauty" is an arbitrary and abstract concept that is constantly being modified as a result of the times. People are influenced by the images they see in the media to determine what the ideal beauty is. The media is manipulative and deceptive in nature, and it continues to carry harmful suggestions about ideal beauty despite the concrete evidence of damaging effects to people of all ages. Fortunately, it seems there may be shifts in the media that are beginning to portray men and women more realistically.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of The Beauty Halo Effect

    1385 Words  | 3 Pages

    The beauty halo effect has become a strong phenomenon in social psychology nowadays. The beauty halo effect can also be called “the physical attractiveness” stereotype and the “what is beautiful is good” principle (Lewis-Beck, Bryman and Liao, 2004). The halo effect makes reference to the tendency of people to better rate attractive people for their personality traits than the individuals that are qualified less attractive (Lewis-Beck, Bryman and Liao, 2004). The psychologist Edward Thorndike first wrote about the halo effect phenomenon in his paper The Constant Error in Psychological Ratings in 1920. He noticed in his work that “ratings were apparently affected by the tendency to think of a person in general as rather good or rather inferior and to color the judgments of the qualities by this general feelings” (Lachman and Bass, 2001). The halo effects explain the fact that early aspects influence the interpretation of later aspects (Forgas, 2011). Since the first definition of the halo effects made by Thorndike in 1920, this concept has been the subject...

    Read More

  • Social Perception Of Beauty Essay

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    IS BEAUTIFUL ALWAYS GOOD? IMPLICIT BENEFITS OF FACIAL ATTRACTIVENESS by Van Leeuwen and Macrae have conducted a study that discusses the implications of attractiveness and whether we associate that with positive or negative words. 20 women and 16 men from Dartmouth College were presented with a number of words and a picture of an attractive or unattractive person in the background. Researchers found out that attractive faces triggered a positive reaction which proved to them the stereotypic social perception that “beautiful is good”. This latter possibility is theoretically important because, if true, it suggests that the “beautiful is good” stereotype may shape people’s evaluations of others in a covert manner”. (Beautiful is always good) The participants associated more positive words with more attractive people which depicts the socialization we have in America that being beautiful is more acceptable and positive. Many social aspects come into play when talking about beauty and why we think that “being beautiful is good”.

    Read More

  • The Science of Love

    2744 Words  | 6 Pages

    Around the world people love. They live for love, they write for love, the sing, eat, cook, die and kill for love (ForumNetwork, 2009). Since the beginning of recorded time, people have wondered why love is such an intense and universal feeling. There is no culture in this planet that does not have love (ForumNetwork, 2009). This essay will only talk about romantic love were sexuality and attraction are involved. Romantic love, is one of the most powerful energies on earth (ForumNetwork, 2009), it is indeed one on the most addictive substances we can experience at least once in our life. The rush of cocaine and the rush of being in love depend on the same chemicals in our brain (ForumNetwork, 2009); we are literally addicted to love. The feeling of being in love does not depend whether the other part loves you back or not, it will help you feel more happy that is for sure, but the intensity of the feeling loved or heartbroken is the same, they both depart from the same principle: the love and desire of the other. Love remains in the most basic system of our brain, under all cognitive process, under all motor impulses; it is placed in our reward system, the most ancient systems of all (ForumNetwork, 2009).

    Read More

  • Importance Of Physical Appearance

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    Good physical appearance helps in building up flexible relationships. For example women who take care of their physical appearance manage to have a better relatio...

    Read More

  • Sexual Attraction Essay

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sexual attraction refers to desirability as it relates to a sexual connection; individuals are sexually attracted to those they would perceive as a mate in some way. This attraction can be rooted in a variety of factors, including those both tangible and intangible. Sexual attraction often refers to physical attraction, or being aroused by a person’s physical traits. These can include appearance, smell, or voice. However, sexual

    Read More

  • Physical Beauty Versus Inner Beauty

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    Physical beauty is merely an illusion of who someone’s true self and is always noticed first. There are countless examples of people being beautiful with a nice body yet a terrible person inside. When someone looks at a physically beautiful person, they often think of them as friendly and caring because their physical beauty is giving off an illusion to others. Although physical beauty is an illusion, people are attracted to physically beautiful people. When someone we think is attractive walks into the room, we are drawn toward them. However, this is only superficial because once you talk to a physically beautiful person and they are unkind, unwelcoming, and only worried about their appearance, most people do not want to be around them.

    Read More

  • Beauty And Inner Beauty

    1152 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first and most popular interpretation of the word “beauty” is seen as outer appearance. On that perception, “beauty” and “attractiveness” have a significant difference even though they are word cousins. A beautiful looking person may be attractive, but an attractive person does not need to be beautiful. One person may look at someone beautiful with “deep satisfaction in the mind” because that person admire how beautiful the other is. Someone, who is not striking beautiful looking, may attract other people just by how they express their personalities. The others who are attracted to that particular individual because they feel connected, happy, and comfortable around that person. While attractiveness may result in long lasting relationships, physical beauty only brings short term pleasant feeling in the mind. Yet, beauty as outer look conquers many societies around the world. For instance, American culture tends to value the way a person look. That value is transmitted from one generation to the next by families, peers, and media in the process of enculturation. Young children come to adapt ways of thinking and feeling about physical beauty from their families first. The show

    Read More

More about Power of Love and Relationships

Open Document