Using Students' Personal Ads to Teach about Interpersonal Attraction and Intimate Relationships

Abstract

Many students have beliefs about interpersonal relationships that are inconsistent with empirical research. For example, some students report that attractiveness is less important than personality when choosing romantic partners; however, evidence suggests the opposite (Sprecher & Regan, 2002). Our activity in which students wrote personal ads and anonymously exchanged them examined and challenged students' relationship beliefs. Students read ads aloud and discussed how the ads related to important issues in interpersonal research (e.g., how men and women respond differently when reporting sexual partner preferences, but not long-term dating or marriage preferences). Pre-and postactivity knowledge measures indicated that the activity increased students' knowledge of interpersonal relationship research. In addition, students evaluated the activity as a fun, valuable, and interesting learning experience.

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