Thursday, April 16, 2009

Duck's Interpesonal Attraction: Filtering Theory

It has been a while since I have had to think about the filters I used to eliminate people from consideration as potential romantic partners. As I reflect back and review Duck’s interpersonal attraction filtering theory the interaction I encountered with the opposite sex had to at least make it through the first two filters of sociological or incidental cues and interaction cues. The reason for elimination of the sociological filter is the lack of communication or as Townsend puts it “frequency of interaction”, if he doesn’t pay attention to me, he might not be that into me. As for the interaction cue I need to be able to talk to someone and the conversation flows, it needs to be easy and not uncomfortable. I have found that the more effortless it is to communicate with someone it factors into the preinteraction, in other words they become more attractive to me.

The interaction cues and cognitive cues can lead me to judge others as unattractive. These filters consist of conversation management and similarities in beliefs and values. This is where I can really find out if a person has a heart and/or is caring. But I can also find out if they have views that are so different from my own it makes them unattractive to me. The preinteraction cues can be an initial reaction that someone is unattractive but if I get to know them the superficial goes away. I guess you can tell that I have eliminated someone by preinteraction cue to only reconsider them based on interaction and cognitive cues. So I do have to say that I agree with Duck’s theory that all of the filters are relevant factors in the decision to take a relationship to the intimate level.

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