Say YES to the Dress

Love that show :) but yes some girls on there are a bit crazy. Especially the one who goes shopping for a wedding dress before getting engaged lol. Relationships can be very complicated but they start by getting to know someone and getting close to them (proximity). I think opposites can attract sometimes, and the relationship works out well.

Great connection of the concepts to this popular show! The three main elements of relationships are very clearly portrayed in the little love stories of the ladies on this show. Proximity definitely seems like a big one, as most of the women have known their hubbies for a while and spend a lot of time with them. Reciprocity naturally follows-- they like each other mutually. Similarity isn't always as clear on this show, but then again, we don't really get to know the couple that well since the main focus is on the dress! Anyhow, sometimes I wonder how well those relationships go after "Yes" has been said to that dress, to borrow a phrase.

I love this show! I really like how you were able to use proximity, similarity, and reciprocity and relate it to Say Yes to the Dress.

I was watching this show just the other day and this woman was getting a dress for her wedding. She said that she'd never even met her fiance before. Their wedding day would be the first day she meets him. This is a little odd because it refutes the idea of proximity. Although, she is just one of the many people who would ever do that.

Great post!

That show is so good! I love it! But yes I do agree that relationships are something that grows with time, and you need the proximity factor in order to attain the emotional feelings for a partner. So it is very odd for woman to be looking for a dress when they are not even engaged yet. But there is a difference in looking and searching for a dress, and just having fun and looking. I would say if you are on say yes to the dress you are searching, and a little too serious if you are not yet engaged. Very good show though!

Good post. I also saw an episode where one bride had not even met her groom yet, surprisingly. They met online and decided to "take the plunge" and get married; their wedding day was the first time they met. This is certainly unconventional and goes against the points in your post about proximity, but I'm sure the reciprocity was present. Hopefully.

Great post. The connections to the book and the concepts we have been learning about are great. It also helps that it is a show that many people watch and can relate in some way to the concepts we learn in class. Say Yes To The Dress really shows all the different aspects of relationships in this day and age and even includes the extremes (like the girl looking for a dress without being engaged.

good connection to pop culture and the use of a real world example to illustrate definitions. I believe that things like proximity are very crucial to the start of a relationship. For instance in High school, I started liking a girl after sitting next to here despite having been in other classes with her before.

I used to record this show during the week while I was at school so that I could spend my whole weekend on the couch watching it... Ever since we discussed relationships in discussion I have been thinking about why my boyfriend and I are attracted to one another... After thinking long and hard I realized that my boyfriend and I are exactly the same just different sexes... Though realistically there are a few things that we disagree on and ways in which we differ. I met him through one of my best friends from junior high and whenever I would hang out with my friend my boyfriend (before we started dating) would be there. We hit it off pretty well :)

It seems to me that it is everyone's motto for their "perfect" person is to be "funny, smart and make them laugh." It is odd to think that three factors: reciprocity, similarity, and proximity play such a great role in relationships. Which of the three plays the greatest role? If any which one does play a greater role.

It's a interesting question you raised after your introduction of the show. "What is the criteria that makes for good relationships?" I think another important thing is that he/she is the one who makes you feel you are who you are when you are with him/her. The modern society requires us have poker face sometimes, there are distance between people. The Mr./Mrs. Right are the one who are able to make you put all of your "armor" off.

This show is one of my favorites on TLC. I think it is very entertaining. I will admit I have spent times looking through bridal magazines, or online websites searching for the "perfect dress". However there is a difference, I am not going to buy any of the dresses until I am actually engaged. Its fun to look, but to buy? I think you should be engaged before you buy a dress. Say yes to the dress emphasizes how crazy people can get over their wedding. Turning normal women in to crazed Bridezillas. I also agree with you that proximity, similarity, and reciprocity all play a role in a successful happy marriage. It is important to balance all aspects. I think this creates a well rounded healthy relationship.

This was a nice application to attraction in the real world, or at least unscripted television! I see this myself, just from casual observations of friends and mutual acquaintances. Even outside of the university sphere, many of my friends have found their significant others through groups where common interests are share, or through mutual friends, which supports similarity and proximity. I've also noticed that many are quick to abandon relationships that aren't reciprocal.

This was entertaining to read, I love Say Yes to the Dress! I think it's a great show to look at from many psychological perspectives. You can definitely look at the show for parent-child dynamics (there are so many crazy mothers/fathers on the show) and also you can look at characters for the big five traits (openness to new experiences, agreeableness, etc.). This is a great show!

Great application to pop culture! It's crazy that the bride is getting married before meeting her fiance. It'd be interesting to know how that marriage works out. Since there was no proximity in their relationship, I wonder if they'll have difficulties.

What I think is most interesting about how similarity plays into relationships is that it increases the longer you are with your partner. It makes sense of course - the longer you are with someone, the more you experience together, have in common and the more similar you become. But it makes me wonder just how much similarity comes into play at the beginning of a relationship? My fiance and I had similar interests when we met and we mutually introduced each other to new things; food, music, movies, sports, etc... But were we really that similar when we met or were we simply similar in our levels of Openness to New Experiences? We experienced that initial attraction and were very willing to try new things that the other person liked to be able to get to know each other better. So... in my opinion, SOME similarity is important from the beginning but it develops into much more as the relationship continues.

Relationships can come from a lot of different situations, with one in five coming from online. This is the similarity aspect, but I definitely think that the reciprocity aspect of relationships is the most important.