SexologyChapter 11Attraction, love, and communication The girl next door Our opportunities to meet people are limited by geography and time.We tend to be more attracted to people with whom we have had contact several times than we are to people with whom we have had little contact.Mere-exposure effect: the tendency to like a person more if we have been exposed to him or her repeatedly.Birds of a feather We like people who are similar to us.We are attracted to people who are approximately the same was we are in age, race or ethnicity, and economic and social status.Homophily: the tendency to have contact with people who are equal in social status.We are attracted to people whose attitudes and opinions are similar to ours.Reasons to be attracted to a person similarWe get positive reinforcement from that person agreeing with us.Similarity in attitudes is important, in personality is notSimilarity on attachment styles is associated with indicators of marital satisfactionSimilarity in attitudes is notPhysical attractiveness Individuals prefer partners who are more physically attractive.This effect depends on gender to some extent.Physical attractiveness is more important to males evaluating females than it is to females evaluating males.Our perception of attractiveness or beauty of another person is influenced by our evaluation of their intelligence, liking, respect, and our own objective attractiveness.This phenomenon is somewhat modified by our own feelings of personal worth.The interpersonal marketplace Whom we are attracted to and pair off with depends a lot on how much we think we have to offer and how much we think we can...