Case Activity
- Petra finds out that her classmate, Julie, thinks that she is really cool. This makes Petra like Julie more than she did before. What does research suggest about this kind of “reciprocity of liking?”
- Tom’s new girlfriend, Elise, has a habit of biting her nails. This did not bother Tom when he first met her, but it is beginning to annoy him more and more with each passing day. Tom is starting to think that this is a sign that Elise might just not be the right person for him. What would a social psychologist say?
- Suppose that Anabelle and Roger are two lonely people. Anabelle seeks to stave off loneliness by forming “relationships” with her favorite celebrities (reading about their lives in Us magazine, watching updates about them on E! Entertainment, etc.), while Roger seeks to dissipate his loneliness by spending time with his dog Fluff (buying his dog presents, taking his dog for long walks, and talking to his dog each night about his day). What does research suggest about the effectiveness of these techniques?
- Moira and Abdul fell in “love at first sight” a few days ago. They think about each other constantly and the sexual tension between them runs high. Consequently, they spend most of their time having sex and little time talking. Discuss their intimacy level according to Sternberg’s theory?
- Andre really believes in himself and doesn’t suffer much in the way of social anxiety. Yet he has a hard time trusting his girlfriend (even though she has given him no reason for this). His girlfriend feels frustrated with the relationship, because Andre seems so aloof and far away. According to attachment theory, what style of attachment does Andre have?
- Suppose that Hillary has somewhat high self-esteem, while her sister Lola has somewhat low self-esteem. Meanwhile, their cousin Nancy has extraordinarily high self-esteem—to the point of being completely narcissistic. And another cousin of theirs, Hattie, has extraordinarily low self-esteem, such that she is brimming with self-criticism and self-hate. What does research suggest about the likelihood that Hillary, Lola, Nancy, and Hattie will have successful long-term relationships?
- Jennifer is a student at UCLA. When asked to describe the average UCLA student, she says it is almost impossible to do so because “there are so many different kinds of people at UCLA; the diversity is really amazing.” By contrast, when asked to describe the average USC student, Jennifer says: “That’s easy; they’re all almost exactly the same.” What would social psychologists say that Jennifer is displaying?
- Suppose that Madison has just begun dating Wayne. While at his house, she notices some family photos on the coffee table. She notices that—even though Wayne himself is not overweight—every other member of his family is clearly obese. Somehow, this makes Wayne seem less attractive to Madison. What does Madison’s attitude illustrate?
- Let’s assume that most high school students have “attitude” at one time or another. Mr. Schmidt, a high school athletic director, is a very prejudiced individual. He usually notices when the Black students in school have “attitude” and rarely notices when the White students show “attitude.” Consequently, he continues to believe that Black students are disrespectful to authority. How does Mr. Schmidt’s tendency to focus on social information in a biased way support his prejudiced belief?
- Jonah is really worried about playing the piano at his recital in front of his girlfriend, who has expressed a desire to be at the recital. Jonah keeps thinking about her instead of concentrating on playing his music. Which of the three processes that influences social facilitation does this scenario most emphasize?
Answer preview
Reciprocal liking is observed when one individual likes another individual solely because they learn that they like them (Zerubavel, Hoffman, Reich, Ochsner & Bearman, 2018). Mutual affection is incredibly impactful in relationship formations. Individuals who experience reciprocal liking usually end up developing relationships with each other. Reciprocal liking is characterized by feelings of love, admiration, respect, and affection (Zerubavel et al., 2018). It is characterized by mutual appreciation, which is mainly heightened by the inclination to spend time with each other. According to psychology, people are usually drawn to the people who like them. Therefore, this reciprocal liking was what made Petra like Julie more than she initially did.
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