Dating: How Much Do We Follow The Crowd Over Our Own Judgments?

For MaryGrace Orlando (Hers wasnt working):

Have you ever really liked a guy, but you won’t act on your feelings until you get a confirmation from your friends that they think he is cute too? In the article The Context Dependence of Hot Guys (and Girls), Sam Sommers explores the importance of context in dating by conducting an experiment and coming to the conclusion that girls are more attractive to the guys that other girls find attractive. This only occurs however, when the girl deciding whether or not she likes a guy, sees girls that she likes fawning for him as well. I would think that this was more competition than anything else; every girl fighting over the hottest guy. However, it goes much deeper than that. This study concluded that even our instincts and most natural perceptions are influenced by context.

Do you agree with Sommers in his findings? Have you ever had an experience like this? Do you think that where we are and who we are with influences our own discernment all the time or only in certain situations like in dating?

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/science-small-talk/201201/the-context-dependence-hot-guys-and-girls

Facebook Friends?!

Let's face it, most of us LIVE on Facebook. In the span of a week we rack up more hours mindlessly wandering through Facebook than doing our homework and as pathetic as it sounds, it is how we keep our social lives functioning, but is it a bad thing? With over 400 million Facebook users, people are concerned that we are making a dangerous transition into a world where our current generation and future generation will not know how to interact face to face, a world in which we cannot navigate through communication and ultimately world in which people will not really have "real friends". In "Friending and Unfriending: A New Social Order?" written by Larry Rosen, Rosen brings up the question about whether or not our Facebook friends can be considered real friends and what that means for society.

So I ask you - Do you consider your "Facebook Friends" to be your real friends? How do you think Facebook is changing the way we interact and build relationships? Do you think that there is a negative side and an ultimate downfall? and How if possible do we go about "fixing" this problem to ensure that our future generations still maintain some sense of real communication while embracing new things like Facebook?

http://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201201/real-connection/friending-and-unfriending