Attraction

...

The last type of attraction is task, which refers to, “our desire to work with someone to fulfill instrumental goals, such as completing a project or making a presentation” (Guerrero, 54). For example, when you are assigned a group project for a class, you would like to be with people that are reliable, contribute their effort, and work hard to get a good grade. That is task attraction because you are attracted to people that are motivated to get the project done in a timely and efficient manner. However, this does not mean you are attracted to that person in a romantic way or you might if you like smart, hard-working people. In this case, task attraction is just someone like to be with people that share a common goal and have the same mindset when working together on a project or assignment.

Now that I have explained the four types of motivation that trigger attraction, I hope I have informed you enough where you can judge what type of attraction you are experiencing when the situation happens. Personally I feel that attraction is hard to explain and sometimes I just do not know why I feel that way, which is where chemical attraction sets in. According to my Relational Communication class, Professor Melissa Framer explained chemical attraction by describing a “sweaty T-shirt” experiment which showed the sense of smell may have to do with mate choice than previously thought. Females sniffing the T-shirts recently worn by males favored the scent of those whose immune response genes were different from their own. Subtle chemical signals, or pheromones, have long been known to draw pairs together within the same species, and for a specific reason.

I think society has us so caught up in physical attraction that we forget physical attractiveness is not as important as personality traits. Dr. Guerrero notes, “research testing interaction appearance theory has also demonstrated that people perceive others are more physically attractive if they have warm, positive interactions with them” (Guerrero, 65). Ultimately, personality is more important than beauty. As long as you have a warm, positive heart and display optimistic behavior toward others then your level of attractiveness will increase. In some cases, relationships and interaction can lead people to revise their initial impressions of people or to regard their relational partners as more physically attractive than an objective observer would judge them to be. Now that you know the science behind attraction, go out this weekend and put science to the test!

Works Cited

Guerrero, L. K., Andersen, P. A., & Afifi, W. A. (2007). Close encounters: Communication in relationships. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

Menadier, V. H. (2012). How Personality and Physical Attraction Lead to Possible Dating: A Reflection. Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (1947-2900), 4(2), 111-119. Retrieved February 11, 2016.