ERQ Human Relationships

Question 1

Discuss (or Evaluate) a biological approach to personal relationships definition/explanation

Answer 1

The biological approach argues that human attraction has its roots in natural selection - that is, we are attracted to the traits that would have the greatest advantage for our potential offspring. They also argue that attraction is primarily a physiological response. These physiological responses include neurotransmitters, hormones, and potentially, pheromones.

Question 2

Evaluation of bio approach

Answer 2

• Over reliance on animal models
• An over reliance on western-hetro-sexual couples
• A largely Etic approach to research

Question 3

Role of Neurotransmission of bio approach

Answer 3

• Romantic love involves obsession with the loved one, consuming most waking thoughts.
• Symptoms: daydreaming, constant communication, mood swings based on the partner’s response.
• Helen Fisher views romantic love as a motivation system shared with other mammals.
• The brain’s attraction system is associated with dopamine-rich areas, evolved to focus mating energy on one partner.
• Fisher’s “biochemical cocktail” theory: neurotransmitters (dopamine, noradrenaline, serotonin) drive feelings of obsession, head spinning, and heart racing.
• Increased brain activity in dopamine-rich areas was seen when looking at the beloved’s image.
• Romantic love is seen as a motivation system, driven by dopamine, similar to other animals’ mating behavior.

Question 4

Role of Hormones of bio approach

Answer 4

• As a relationship develops over time a couple moves from attraction to a more intimate relationship with feelings of comfort, security, and relatedness called attachment.
• Attachment is considered to be fundamental for keeping together two individuals, once the flame of romantic love has vanished.
• hormones: oxytocin, vasopressin

Question 5

role of vasopressin in attachment (bio)

Answer 5

released during sex, may influence long-term commitment.

Question 6

role of oxytocin in attachment (bio)

Answer 6

• released during touching and sex, may strengthen feelings of attachment between couples.
  
  • released during childbirth, aiding bonding between mother and infant.
  • suppresses the amygdala, reducing anxiety and aggression, which may increase intimacy and trust.

Question 7

studies for bio approach

Answer 7

Fisher
Wedekind

Question 8

Fisher aim

Answer 8

To investigate a possible link between dopaminergic brain regions/systems and the early stages of romantic love

Question 9

Fisher procedure

Answer 9

Participants: A self-selected sample of 10 female and 7 male students from New York State University, aged 18-26 years old (mean age = 20 years). All participants reported that they were ‘in love’ (time spent together from a range of 1-17 months with a mean of 7 months)

Procedure: Participants were placed in an fMRI scanner and shown a photograph of their romantic partner followed by a distraction task and then a ‘neutral’ photograph of an acquaintance with whom they had no emotional connection
- This was repeated six times
- The researchers got what Fisher calls “a beautiful picture of the brain in love”, showing activity in the brain’s reward system

Question 10

Fisher findings

Answer 10

• fMRI scans showed increased activity when participants viewed photos of their romantic partner.

Active brain areas:
- Right ventral tegmental area (midbrain).
- Right caudate nucleus (midbrain).
- These brain regions are associated with dopamine production.

• Dopamine is linked to motivation and reward.
• This suggests that seeing a romantic partner activates the reward system, encouraging behavior through the anticipation of positive consequences.

Question 11

Fisher evaluation

Answer 11

Strengths

The findings support previous research into the role of dopamine in substance addiction so it is interesting to see how romantic love may fall under the same framework of craving and withdrawal
The use of fMRI clearly shows a link between dopaminergic areas of the brain only when the photograph of the romantic partner was shown which increases the internal validity of the study i.e. Fisher really was measuring the effect of romantic love on the brain
Limitations

It could be argued that a sample with a mean age of 20 years are more likely to be socially active and involved in pleasure-focused activities than an older sample which would mean that the ‘pleasure centre’ of their brains would be more receptive to dopamine
There could be other explanations for the activation of the dopamine-rich areas of the brain being active during the fMRI e.g. excitement at taking part in a study; curiosity as to the outcome of the study, so Fisher cannot claim cause-and-effect from her findings

Question 12

evaluation of cog theory

Answer 12

• highly theoretical
• dominated by heterosexual participants (sampling bias)
• golden ratio excludes people of colour

Question 13

Wedekind aim

Answer 13

carried out a study to see to what extent MHC alleles play a role in mating behavior. They are inherited from both of our parents – and they are codominant. That means we end up with both immune systems. He argued that our “smell” is based on our MHC and it is best for a woman to choose a mating partner who has a different smell in order to maximize the immune system of her child.

Question 14

Wedekind procedure

Answer 14

• double-blind experiment
• neither the researcher nor the participants were aware of which t-shirt they were being exposed to at any point in the study in order to minimize researcher bias in the experimenters and demand characteristics in the participants
• recruited a group of 49 women and 44 men, with a wide range of MHC genes
• gave each man a clean T-shirt and asked him to wear it for two nights
• to ensure a strong body odor, he gave the men supplies of odor-free soap and aftershave and asked them to remain as “odor neutral” as possible
  they were also forbidden to eat spicy food.
• After the men returned the shirts, Wedekind put each one in a plastic-lined cardboard box with a sniffing hole on top.
• The women were scheduled to return at the midpoint of their menstrual cycle when women’s sense of smell is at its best, and each was presented with a different set of seven boxes.
• Three of the seven boxes contained T-shirts from men with MHC similar to the woman’s own
  three contained T-shirts from MHC-dissimilar men; and one contained an unworn T-shirt as a control. The women were asked to rate each of the seven T-shirts as pleasant or unpleasant.

Question 15

Wedekind findings

Answer 15

• the women he tested were more likely to prefer the scent of men with dissimilar MHC
• although we might argue that this is strong evidence that MHC determines whom we find to be attractive, that would be a reductionist approach to relationships.

Question 16

Wedekind evaluation

Answer 16

• evolutionary argument for mate selection in humans
• reductionist – that is, it over-simplifies the behaviour of human mate selection by bringing it down to the MHC – ignoring cognitive and sociocultural factors.
• double-blind experiment: this means that neither the researchers nor the participants were aware of which t-shirt they were being exposed to at any point in the study. This was done to minimize demand characteristics.
• met ethical standards as consent was obtained from all participants and they were debriefed
• The sample, however, may not be considered representative as the participants were similar in age and culture.

Question 17

Discuss (or Evaluate) a cognitive approach to personal relationship’s definition/explanation

Answer 17

Cognitive researchers argue that the extent to which people perceive another person as similar to themselves may be one explanation for attraction. Contrary to the adage that “opposites attract,” it appears that those whom we perceive to be similar to ourselves are more attractive to us. The Similarity-Attraction Model argues that people like and are attracted to others who are similar, rather than dissimilar, to themselves.

Couples tend to be similar in age, religion, social class, cultural background, personality, education, intelligence, physical attractiveness, and attitudes.

Another cognitive factor that may play a role in how we form relationships is our schema (mental representations that are derived from prior experience and knowledge). John Bowlby, a developmental psychologist, posited that as children we form mental representations or schema based on our first bonded relationship - often with our mother or another caregiver. The motivation to form attachments is biologically based, but the process of forming attachments is based on experience. Bowlby called this set of schema the internal working model.

The internal working model includes three important elements
ideas about attachment figures and what can be expected from them;
ideas about the self;
ideas about how self and others relate.

If a child experiences love and affection, she will come to see herself as worthy of love and attention. This is her working model as Bowlby sees it. The working model will determine her relationship with other people and the way she sees herself in the future. Bowlby believed that humans tend to reproduce the internal working model in later relationships.

Question 18

Markey and Markey aim

Answer 18

studied the role that schema play in relationships. They argue that we seek partners who are similar to us because this validates our sense of self.

Question 19

Markey and Markey procedure

Answer 19

• self-selected sample of undergraduate students, about 200 participants were recruited through advertisements in the local newspaper and around the university campus
• used questionnaires that first asked participants to describe their perfect partner
• they were asked to describe themselves
• Follow-up study: about 100 heterosexual young couples who had been together for a year, researchers asked couples to fill out questionnaires about both their own and their partner’s personality.

Question 20

Markey and Markey findings

Answer 20

what they were looking for was highly correlated with how they described themselves

Question 21

Markey and Markey conclusion

Answer 21

This research indicates that our self-schema play a key role in what we find attractive. If people like what we like and have similar values, this helps to validate our sense of self and promote esteem.

Question 22

Markey and Markey evaluation

Answer 22

STRENGTHS:
Large sample size: increases reliability

LIMITATIONS:
Self reported data are subject to demand characteristics
Focuses on American students (etic) -> limiting ecological validity -> other cultures?

Question 23

Hazan and Shafer aim

Answer 23

AIM: To show that the type of attachment an individual had during infanthood had an effect on the type of romantic relationships they would form in the future.

It was predicted that:
1. There would be a correlation between adults attachment styles and they type of parenting they received
2. Adults with different attachment styles will display different internal representations of themselves and their major social-interaction partners

Question 24

Hazan and Shafer procedure

Answer 24

First study: self selected
620 people aged 14-82
Responded to love quiz
205 males, 415 females

Second study
sample of 108 college students

“love quiz” in a local newspaper and asked respondents to indicate which of the three patterns best described their feelings about romantic relationships
The participants had to read the three statements say which paragraph best described them in regard to close relationships.

“A: I am somewhat uncomfortable being close to others; I find it difficult to trust them completely, difficult to allow myself to depend on them. I am nervous when anyone gets too close.

B: I find it relatively easy to get close to others and am comfortable depending on them and having them depend on me. I don’t worry about being abandoned or about someone getting too close to me.

C: I find that others are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I often worry that my partner doesn’t really love me or won’t stay with me. I want to get very close to my partner and this sometimes scares people away.”

asked participants to describe their parents’ parenting style using a simple adjective checklist

Question 25

Hazan and Shafer findings

Answer 25

• 56% of the respondents demonstrated what would be considered a secure attachment style
• 25% showed an anxious-avoidant pattern
• 19% showed an anxious-ambivalent pattern
• People who were securely attached said their parents had been readily available, attentive, and responsive
• People who were anxious-avoidant said their parents were unresponsive, rejecting, and inattentive
• People who were anxious-ambivalent said their parents were anxious, only sometimes responsive, and generally out of step with their needs.

Question 26

Hazan and Shafer evalution

Answer 26

• overly deterministic to say that inscurely attatched children would end up in insecure adult relationship patterns
• self selected sample
• female> male
• tend to be more motivated which could lead to bias
• follow up study done to validate + establish credebility of results
• correlational -> no cause and effect relationship can be drawn
• several uncontrolled variables can effect relationships

Question 27

contrast approach

Answer 27

Biological:
- Focuses on physiological mechanisms like hormones and genetics.
- Uses animal models and evolutionary explanations.
- Emphasizes evolutionary origins of relationship behaviors (e.g., survival, reproduction).

Cognitive:
- Focuses on mental processes (e.g., perception, memory, decision-making).
- Studies schemas, attributions, and thought patterns in relationship dynamics.
- Uses methods like interviews, self-report surveys, and observations to study internal cognitive processes.

Question 28

contrast assumptions

Answer 28

Biological:
- Relationship behaviors are rooted in biology, driven by survival and reproduction.
- Attraction and attachment influenced by hormones, neurotransmitters, and genetic compatibility.
- Evolutionary psychology suggests behaviors are adaptive to increase the chance of passing on genes.

Cognitive:
- Relationship behaviors are shaped by thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions.
- Schemas and attributions guide how individuals interpret and respond to their partner.
- Assumes people actively process information and can learn and modify behavior based on experience.

Question 29

contrast theories

Answer 29

Biological:
- Evolutionary Theory: Mate selection and relationship behaviors are adaptive, meant to ensure survival and reproduction.
- Neurotransmitter Theory: Hormones like oxytocin and dopamine are central to feelings of love and attachment.

Cognitive:
- shemas (internal working model)
- similarlity attraction model

Question 30

studies for contrast question

Answer 30

bio: wedekind (evolutionary), cog: markey and markey (schemas)