xxviii sexually warm and responsive that less physically attractive people Dion, Berscheid
and Walster, 1972
25
Since pet animals and other animals are pervasive in the environments of human beings, these principles logically lead psychologists to examine human and
animal relationships as an interdependent system. A conceptualist addressing behaviorists like Skinner might ask how pet animals and their human owners
mutually reinforce each other and how, therefore, animals and humans modify one another’s behavior. The dynamic systems theorist would view people-with-animals as
a single system, “acting on one another in dynamic interaction”
26
. With each finding of higher human-like cognitive, linguistic, and emotion functioning in nonhuman
animals, conceptualists might ask what implications these capacities have for human relationships with animals? Ecological psychologists like Bronfenbrenner 1979
might challenge a nascent Animal Studies psychology to document how animals and humans respond to, and modify, each other within their significant environments or
ecological niches.
27
5. Physical Appearance and Social Behavior
The relationship between attraction and physical appearance are clearly positive, but the question of how appearance is related to subsequent behavior is more
ambiguous. We might expect that since people tend to form more favorable
25
Ibid, P. 213
26
Dixon Lerner, 1992, p. 35.
27
www.wikipedia.psychology human and non human.co.id.
accessed on March 9
th
, 2010
xxix impressions about the physically attractive, they will act more positively toward
them. In turn, the physically attractive may develop more positive self-images and interpersonal styles, which lead them to become more affective during social
interactions than less attractive people. Following this reasoning, we could expect physically attractive people to have a greater number of and more rewarding social
encounters.
28
There are some exceptions to these findings, however. Although the physically attractive may be preferred in the abstract, there is evidence that people
tend to choose others during courtship and marriage that are similar to their own level of attractiveness. Known as the matching hypothesis, the ideas is that an individual’s
own level of physical attractiveness affects the choices made in dating situations and it explains why most people eventually find partners they feel are satisfactory.
Moreover, physical attractiveness may be of greatest importance in the early stages of a relationship, when information about another is apt to be scanty. Standards
of beauty also change drastically over time and across societies, so what is attractive in one time and place may evolve into something quite different. In sum, physical
attractiveness does not ensure a lifetime of high-quality social relationships.
29
28
Feldman, Robert S, Social Psychology: Theories, Research and Applications.USA: McGraw-Hill Company, 1985, p. 214
29
Ibid, P. 216
xxx
CHAPTER III RESEARCH FINDINGS
A. Data Descriptions
In chapter III, after watching the film, the writer finds some statements as the corpus of the research. They are classified into three groups: characters, indication
and factors underlying relationship. They are presented in the following tables.
Table 1 The List of Characters in John Grogan’s Marley and Me.
Characters Corpus
Indication Factor
Underlying Relationship
Robert Feldman
Marley Jenny Grogan
Only one plunged forward to meet the assault head-on. It was
Clearance Dog. He plowed full steam into me, throwing a cross-
body block across my ankles and pouncing at my shoelace as
though convinced they were dangerous enemies that needed
to be destroyed. John Grogan 2008, p. 9
Oh, damn. Killed another one.” “How am I ever supposed to
take care of a kid if I can’t even keep plant alive?” John Grogan
2008, P.6 Stubborn
hearted similarity
Marley Marley stood with his shoulders
between Jenny’s knees, his big blocky head resting quietly in
her lap. John Grogan 2008, P. 119
Kind hearted
Reciprocity of
liking
22
