Factors affecting attraction Flashcards
What 3 things affect attraction in romantic relationships?
- Self-disclosure
- Physical attractiveness & matching hypothesis
- Filter theory
What is self-disclosure?
- Sharing of personal info to someone we like
- creates a sense of trust when the info disclosed is ‘secret’
- crucial element to early stages of a romantic relationship
what is social penetration theory in self-disclosure?
- as a relationship develops, communication moves from relatively shallow, non intimate levels to deeper more personal ones
Explain breadth & depth of social disclosure?
what did Altman & Taylor suggest?
- beginning of relationship, info disclosed is low risk & limited in breadth
- as relationship develops info becomes high risk with breadth
- disclosure signals an individual likes us & we feel rewarded for this
Explain reciprocity of self-disclosure from Laurenceau 2005?
- asked pt’s to write daily diary entries about progress in their relationships
- found self-disclosure & perception of disclosure led to greater intimacy
- reverse was true: partners who complained about lack of intimacy self-disclosed less
If self-disclosure occurs to early what could happen?
- either encourages greater intimacy earlier on or the other person is intimidated jeopardising the relationship
AO3 research support Has & Hartford self disclosure?
(gay couples)
P - research support for self-disclosure
E - Has & Hartford found 57% of gay men & women considered open self-disclosure as a main way of maintaining close-relationships
E - demonstrates importance of self-disclosure in romantic relationships, as the theory predicted
L - So adds credibility to self disclosure as a factor affecting romantic r’ships
AO3 correlational research against self disclosure yet good practical applications?
P - most support for self-disclosure comes from correlational research
E - whilst there is an undoubted link between self-disclosure & success of r’ships, cause & effect cannot be established decreasing validity
E - However concept has useful practical applications as it can help improve communication leading to greater intimacy
L - shows social-penetration theory can be used to enhance an r’ship
AO3 self-disclosure ignored other factors?
P - concept fails to recognise mitigating factors like personality
E - offers support for attraction being predicated on other factors like physical attraction
E - personality is a crucial factor in self disclosure, if a person is open to everyone, their partner may not feel wanted
E - some individuals may not be comfortable with knowing, intimate details of their partner
L - So, shows self-disclosure lacks credibility and may only work person to person
In physical attractiveness what 2 things are looked at?
- Halo effect
- Matching Hypothesis
Explain importance of physical attraction?
(evolutionary perspective)
- evolutionary explanation states attractiveness are indicators of good genetics & health
- By choosing a partner you are ensuring healthy offspring
- partner is capable of bearing children (female)
- provide for the family (male)
Outline Halo effect?
favourability?
personality?
- people deemed attractive tend to be favoured in society
e.g. attractive person more likely to be acquitted of a crime & are deemed trustworthy & sociable - personality still has to be suitable for us
- could be argued attractive people make their personalities more attractive
Outline the matching hypothesis?
- people seek partners of similar attractiveness
- we should have a realistic judgement of how attractive we are to be able to determine our partners
- attempting to ‘punch above your weight’ could lead to rejection damaging self-esteem
- if someone feels their partner is more attractive there is likely to be fears that partner will leave for someone else
- So we do not go for the most attractive people rather our choice of partner is a compromise
AO3 research to support physical attractiveness Gunnell & Ceci?
(22% more likely…)
(22 months…..)
P - Research support Gunnell & Ceci
E - People who are less physically attractive are 22% more likely to be convicted than hot people & are more likely to get sentenced to 22 months longer
E - suggests physical attractiveness has a big impact on how we perceive people
L - supports concepts of physical attractiveness through the Halo effect
AO3 research support Physical attractiveness
Murtstein 1972 v.s. Walster?
Walster - computer dance experiment
P - Murstein 1972
E - asked dating couples to rate themselves in terms of physical attractiveness & asked judges to rate them
E - found real pairs were similar in terms of physical attractiveness v.s. random pairs
P - whereas Walster (computer dance experiment) did not find support for matching hypothesis
E - nearly 400 male & female students were randomly paired at a dance, & were later asked to rate their date
E - Physical attractiveness proved to be the most important factor in liking over general compatibility, it was the best predictor of the likelihood they would see each other again/not
L - Shows support for physical attractiveness but not matching hypothesis in generally liking someone
AO3 Physical attractiveness
Towhey 1979 against?
(photos & biography)
P - Issues with physical attraction & matching hypothesis
E - Towhey 1979 gave pt’s photos of strangers & some biographical info: pt’s were asked to rate how much they liked the people
E - Towhey found physical attractiveness was more important for participants who were sexist
L - concept of physical attractiveness & matching hypothesis is sexist
AO3 Physical attraction
Counterpoint to Towhey 1979 about evolutionary explanations for sexual attraction?
P - Towhey argued the mathching hypothesis & physical attractiveness however fails to appreciate an evolutionary perspective
E - For males intra-sexual selection is argued to be innate & therefore sexual attraction comes from physical attractiveness such as Hip-waist-ratio
E - Shows physical attractiveness being more important for some pt’s may be innate and not driven by sexism
L - weakens the validity of Towhey’s research and thus lacks credibility
What is the filter theory & who came up with it?
what are the 3 filters in brief based on?
- Kerchkoff & Davies (1962)
- our choices of mates are limited by several factors which ‘filter’ down potential mates available to us
- proximity/demographics
- similarity in attitudes
- internal factors/complementarity
what is the 1st filter?
- social demography:
- individuals with similar demographics to us
- where we work/live (proximity)
- religious/not
- education/economic background
what is the 2nd filter?
- similarity in attitudes:
- more likely to meet people with similar attitudes & beliefs to you
- most important phase in forming an r’ship
- partners must agree on the basics to encourage deeper intimacy & communication
What is the 3rd filter
- Complementarity:
- how much does the partner satisfy their partner’s needs emotionally & sexually
- does the partner have traits the other makes up for
- important for leaving the initial stages & committing yourself
AO3 filter theory
Festinger?
(stairwells)
P - empirical support for filter theoryby Festinger
E - found people who lived nearer the stairwells in apartments blocks knew most people in the block
E - suggests familiarity is important in r’ships & supports the filter theory, that social demographics (1st filter) play a role in romantic r’ships
L - supports filter theory
AO3 filter theory
Deterministic?
P - Filter theory’s emphasis on societal factors seems deterministic
E - Suggests we have little control over potential mates & the filtering of individuals outside of our location & social group occurs before we begin to look for partners
E - could be argued to be a negative factor because it implies we are not in full control of our r’ship behaviour & ignores self-disclosure
L - implies without acknowledging role of free will in r/ships, filter theory is quite pessimistic
AO3 filter theory
High level of face validity but emergence of dating apps?
P - High levels of face validity as sociodemographic factors, attitudes & complementarity is something people experience in everyday life
E - people can interact with filter theory because they easily understand it
E - However sociodemographic (filter 1) may not play a big role in modern times due to emergence of dating apps vs 2-3 decades ago as people are likely to meet others from different locations
L - Filter theory less valid
