Close Relationships

Question 1

What is the physical attractiveness stereotype?

Answer 1

The tendency for people to assume that physically attractive people possess other socially desirable traits in addition to their looks e.g. intelligence

Question 2

Is there drawbacks to being physically attractive?

Answer 2

Unwanted advances
People not as attractive may resent them
Victims of stalking
More likely to engage in aggressive and norm breaking behaviours
Receive less sympathy

Question 3

What is the averageness effect?

Answer 3

Average faces are closer to the mental prototype of a face, they are more familiar so are more attractive as the average face is more ‘face-like’
Familiarity leads to higher ratings of attractiveness because prototype faces are easier to process.

Question 4

Why is facial symmetry important?

Answer 4

Average faces tend to be more symmetrical
Evolution
Biological advantages e.g. being able to fight diseases
This transfers to other preferences, such as people liking dogs or cats that are symmetrical

Question 5

What is the sexual strategies theory?

Answer 5

Attractiveness is an evolutionary advantage to maximise the chance of passing on your genes
Men prefer youth and physical attractiveness (fertility and reproductive value)
Women prefer men wit status and maturity (provide for mother and child.)
Men engage in short term relationships so they can ‘pass on’ more of their genes, this isn’t any good for women as women can only have one baby at a time

Question 6

What are compensatory factors?

Answer 6

Physically unattractive so they rely on other attractive factors like wealth or intelligence
Sometimes people will look for the traits in potential partners that they have themselves

Question 7

What did Festinger 1950 find?

Answer 7

At US University, Housing complex
When people were asked to name their friends names, they named the ones in the same building as them.
People living in the same building, chose to make friends on the same floor
Even being on a different floor, but next to a staircase meant you were more likely to make friends
This happened for mailboxes too
One door away: 41% chance of being listed as a close friend
four doors away it’s only 10%
This creates the propinquity effect: people form close relationships with those they encounter often

Question 8

What is anticipatory liking?

Answer 8

Anticipating an interaction with another person means you will like them more

Question 9

Why doesn’t proximity and familiarity always lead to liking and attraction?

Answer 9

If you live with a neighbour whose dog always barks, this will decrease likeability
Also many murders are done by the people closest to the victim
Also, domestic abuse

Question 10

What happens if a person’s need to affiliate isn’t satisfied?

Answer 10

Rejection, sadness, anger, ostracism

Question 11

What is the balance theory?

Answer 11

People compare their attitudes to others and if they are similar then balance is achieved. Balance leads to positive feelings, while imbalance produces negative feelings (attitudes are dissimilar)

Question 12

What is self disclosure?

Answer 12

Willingness to share information about yourself to another person. This is important in determining long term relationship success. People tend to like others more if they reveal more about themselves. Important for building trust

Question 13

What did Hatfield 1966 find?

Answer 13

Asked people to complete personality tests
Matched people based on these characteristics
Went to a social dance
Asked if they wanted to go on a second date, the best predictor of this was physical attraction
Personality matches were poor predictors

Question 14

What advantages do you get if you’re more physically attractive?

Answer 14

Known as the beauty is good effect More likely to get dates
Better marks at university
More successful in job interviews
Treated better in legal system
Earn more money

Question 15

How does fertility affect physical attractiveness?

Answer 15

Women rated as more attractive when they’re at their most fertile
Ovulating strippers earned more tips
When ovulating, women prefer the smell of t-shirts worn by symmetrically faced men

Question 16

What is the matching phenomenon?

Answer 16

People tend to be more attracted to others who are about the same physical attractiveness level as themselves
Asset matching: people want different things e.g. men seek younger women, women seek men with status and money

Question 17

How does familiarity and proximity effect attractiveness?

Answer 17

Finding someone familiar or being close to them can facilitate attraction
People prefer faces that look like their own
We are friends with neighbours who live closest to us

Question 18

What is the mere exposure effect?

Answer 18

New things make us uncomfortable
The more we see them, the more we are familiar
When we realise there is no harm, they become familiar and we like them

Question 19

What did Moreland and Beach 1992 find?

Answer 19

Repeated exposure
Students found other students more attractive if they visited class more often

Question 20

What is physiological arousal?
Reference Button and Aron’s study

Answer 20

Feeling aroused, you project this feeling onto others
Button and Aron study: men crossed the shaky or stable bridge, on the shaky bridge men were more nervous/excited- these people were more likely to call back the researcher after the experiment to pass on this excitement

Question 21

What are some limitations of Button and Aron’s study?

Answer 21

Not clear if the emotion is frightened or excited e.g. maybe they didn’t call because they were fearful but happy they got off the bridge
Experimenter effects: the experimenter acted differently to the men on the shaky bridge vs the stable bridge

Question 22

What are the psychological determinants of attraction?

Answer 22

Need to affiliate
Some people prefer to be alone, but some people like the choice e.g. loneliness is when you don’t have anyone to call, but others may choose not to call anyone and want to be alone
Fear of death increases affiliation
Being in troublesome situations

Question 23

How do emotions impact likeability?

Answer 23

Positive feelings lead to positive evaluations
negative feelings lead to negative evaluations
Just being around someone when something good happens can increase liking for that person

Question 24

Why is similarity important?

Answer 24

People with similar personalities, interpersonal skills and communication skills are more compatible
Social comparison: way to evaluate the validity of our own attitudes and beliefs is to compare them with others, when other people share the same beliefs this makes us feel good
Evolutionary reasons: dissimilar people may present danger

Question 25

What did Galton, Newcomb and Byrne find?

Answer 25

Galton: wives and husbands attitudes are more similar
Newcomb: university students rated attractiveness of their peers, peers with similar attitudes were more attractive
Byrne: law of attraction, attraction is directly related to the attitudes shared, reinforces existing attraction

Question 26

How does culture effect physical attractiveness?

Answer 26

Aspects of attraction do appear universal
People prefer to date within their own ethnic group
Social factors such as family approval are important

Question 27

What is the social exchange theory?

Answer 27

People’s evaluation of a relationship will depend on their perception of:
the rewards they gain from the relationship, the costs that would incur and the likelihood they could have a better relationship with someone else
Comparison with past relationships
People put up with costs to receive the benefits

Question 28

What is the equity theory?

Answer 28

Restore balance in the relationship (under and over benefitting partners)
Most people are happy in this relationship
People are after equality and fairness
Both sides should be equal

Question 29

What is the reinforcement theory?

Answer 29

We like people who are present when something good happens
Reinforcement effect model: people are liked or disliked depending on their association with negative feelings
Griffit: students evaluated the person next to them, if they were in a nice room, they rated the person next to them more positively, people were rated more negatively if students were in a hot room

Question 30

What are exchange and communal relationships?

Answer 30

Exchange: more frequent in society, increases societal progress and wealth
Communal: more frequent in close relationships, more desirable/healthier/mature

Question 31

What is passionate love?

Answer 31

Intense feelings
Uncontrollable thoughts
Deep longing
Physiological symptoms
The feeling of being in love
Biological components: release of dopamine associated with rewards, activates the brain rewards system

Question 32

What is compassionate love?

Answer 32

Deep, secure feelings
Unfrenzied
Common in relationships that were once passionate

Question 33

What is Sternberg’s theory of love?

Answer 33

Love can be mapped into a triangle of intimacy, passion and commitment

Question 34

What did Gupta and Singh find in love across cultures?

Answer 34

Study of arranged and ‘love’ marriages
Love marriages decreased in reported love over the years
Arranged marriages begin with not a lot of love, but increase with love over the years

Question 35

What happens when the need for affiliation is unfulfilled? Reference Harlow’s monkeys study

Answer 35

Harlow’s monkeys study
Need for belonging and warmth is important, monkeys clung to the clothed wired mother
Social isolation caused psychological stress showing early maternal wellbeing is important for wellbeing

Question 36

What is Rusbult’s investment model of commitment?

Answer 36

Satisfaction, Alternatives and Investments dictate the commitment to the relationship. Return to abusive relationship. Women are more likely to stay in abuse relationships because of the investments

Question 37

How does attachment predict relationship success in the future?

Answer 37

Attachment behaviours indicate the need to affiliate e.g. crying
Ainsworth attachment styles: secure (caregiver was responsive, this person is well liked and trusting) avoidant (caregiver was distant, this person finds intimacy difficult) and anxious (caregiver was inconsistent, this person is worried about reciprocation)

Question 38

How does gender impact love?

Answer 38

Men fall in love more quickly than women
Men initiate breakups
Women are more emotionally invested in relationships
Women focus on the emotional rather than physical

Question 39

What happens when the need for affiliation is unfulfilled? Reference Bowlby’s study

Answer 39

Observed behaviours of infants and mothers
When separated, infants would cry or smile to reunite with mother
When the baby was clingy this meant they wanted to stay close to the mother
These attachment behaviours are the need to affiliate
When deprived of this, children become fearful, withdrawn or silent

Question 40

What factors cause a relationship to break down?

Answer 40

Feelings of obligation
Considering alternatives
Culture (higher divorce rates in individualist cultures than collectivist)
Not sharing similar backgrounds (education level, age, religion)

Question 41

What are the 3 ways people go about ending a relationship?

Answer 41

There’s a problem in the relationship they wish to repair through counselling, focus on their partners performance in the relationship

Both parties argue, they negotiate breaking up or reconciliation.

Both parties are not able to solve the problem, they break up. Both parties seek validation of their position and try to save ‘face’ to others