What role do the following factors play in attraction: o Mere exposure o Proximity o Physical attractiveness

What role do the following factors play in attraction:
o Mere exposure
o Proximity
o Physical attractiveness

Mere Exposure: It turns out that we don't need to even interact with people to become attracted to them. All we need is mere exposure. Mere exposure can be defined as the tendency for novel stimuli to be liked more positively after the rater has been repeatedly exposed to them.

Take a look at the picture below -- which one do you find more attractive? You probably find the one on the right more attractive, which is the one we more typically see. (Stephen Harper was previously the Canadian prime minister). Stephen Harper, on the other hand, probably prefers the picture on the left, which is the one he sees in the mirror every morning. This is one of the reasons why we tend not to like pictures of ourselves. First of all, the faces we see in the pictures are not as familiar to us as the ones we see in the mirror -- we like the one in the mirror more.

Proximity: Think back to your first romantic interest. Where did they live, and where did you live? Chances are they were someone you went to school with, or who lived on your street (depending on how early you started dating). Interaction with others is key. The closer we are to them the more opportunity we have to interact, and the more likely we are to be attracted to them. Functional distance, not geographic distance, is most important. Even the anticipation of interaction can lead to liking.

I always find this effect so cool: most people marry someone who lives in the same neighbourhood as them, who they work with, or who are in the same class. Consistent with the literature, I met my wife at University, we were in similar graduate programs, and we lived a few blocks from each other.

Physical Attractiveness: Does physical attractiveness matter? It turns out that it does. "On the whole women tend to love men for their character while men tend to love women for their appearance," said Bertrand Russell (1930, p. 139). And on the whole he is correct. In general, we prefer better looking people.

This is an area of the research where we see sex differences. Men tend to put more value on physical attractiveness of women than women do on men. That said, women also attend to the attractiveness of men. This effect is more pronounced if women are looking for a short-term relationship. In these cases, women tend to prefer men deemed more attractive.

Is physical attractiveness always the most important thing that we consider? No—just because attractiveness is important doesn't mean that we don't attend do other qualities. Indeed, we do.

Interestingly, despite the importance of physical attractiveness, it turns out that we don't all go for the most attractive partner. Indeed, there is a lot of research showing that relationship partners are generally similar in their levels of attractiveness.