factors affecting attraction - filter theory Flashcards
outline filter theory.
Kerchoff and Davis (1962) compared attitudes and personalities of student couples in long term and short term relationships. They devised a filter theory to explain how such relationships form and develop.
when choosing a partner, people start by looking at options that are available. however, not everyone who is available we find desirable.
According to K&D, there are three main filters to narrow down our range of partner choice from a ‘pool of availables’ to the ‘pool of desirables’ - people we want to date.
each of these factors assume greater or lesser importance at different stages in a relationship.
there are three main filters according the filter theory, name them.
- social demography
- similarity in attitudes
- complementarity
outline the first filter - social demography.
The first level is that of sociodemographic characteristics, such as physical proximity, level of education, social class, religion and other important factors people are likely to pay attention to when we are meeting a person for the first time.
people are more likely to build relationships with people who are geographically close, and whom they are meeting frequently, as this gives them a greater chance to find out more about one another.
key benefit is accessibility - doesn’t require much effort to meet someone who is close in proximity.
People also find similarities in education, social class and religious beliefs attractive, as this gives them assurance that relationships are more likely to move forward.
outline the second filter - similarity in attitudes.
People tend to view others as more attractive if they share the same core beliefs and values, such as views on career and importance of family.
Byrne (1997) noted that similarity of attitudes is especially important in earlier stages of relationships, for couples who have been together fewer than 18 months. He said that similarity causes attraction (law of attraction).
Presence or absence of similarities is discovered through self-disclosure, which leads to greater feelings of intimacy in a couple. If partners have very little in common, however, relationships rarely develop beyond the first few dates.
outline the third filter - complementarity.
Complementarity refers to each of the partners having some traits that the other partner lacks, and helping each other to fulfil their needs.
For example, one partner may enjoy meeting new people and being socially proactive, and the other may enjoy being introduced to people rather than initiating social encounters themselves, and thus these two people would complement one another.
it seems that complementarity is more important in long term couples.
it is attractive because it gives them the feeling that together they form a whole, adding depth to the relationship making it more likely to flourish.
discuss failure to replicate as a limitation of filter theory.
a limitation is that some studies have failed to replicate Kerckhoff and Davis’ original findings.
Psychologists such as Levinger (1974) claim that this may be due to the difficulty of correlating length of relationships and depth of relationships, and of determining what constitutes short-term and long-term relationships.
Kerckhoff and Davis set the cut-off point for short-term relationships at 18 months, assuming that if people have been in relationships longer, it signifies greater commitment.
However, this doesn’t apply to all heterosexual couples, nor does it describe the experience of homosexual couples or couples from collectivist cultures. Some couples take much longer than 18 months to establish a similarity of attitudes and complementarity, while others skip sociodemographic filters altogether and feel they are ready to commit to long-term relationships earlier than the 18 month cut-off point.
These experiences can’t be explained by the Filter Theory, suggesting that other factors (e.g. the type of relationship) play a significant role in the initiation and development of relationships, limiting the value of the FT.
discuss contradictory evidence to the direction of causality as a limitation of FT.
a limitation of the theory is contradictory evidence to the direction of causality.
Kerchoff and Davis (1962) have suggested that similarity of social backgrounds, interests, attitudes and complementarity of needs creates attraction.
However, some researchers claim that this direction of causality should be reversed. For example, Anderson et al. (2003) argued, from the results of their longitudinal study, that the emotional responses of partners in long-term relationships become more alike over time rather than being similar from the start, suggesting that similarity of attitudes is an effect of attraction rather than a cause.
This contradicts the claims made by the Filter Theory, which claims that people need to have similar attitudes from the start for relationships to develop.
discuss research evidence as a strength of FT.
A strength of FR is that there is some research support for filter theory.
The importance of sociodemographic factors, similarity of attitudes and complementarity in developing attraction is something that many people experience in their everyday life, meaning that filter theory has face validity – as people can relate to it with intuitive ‘this makes sense’ understanding thus giving value to the claims of the theory.
ADDITIONALLY -
it benefits from research support.
Winch (1957) found evidence that similarity of interests, attitudes and personality traits were very important for couples in the beginning of relationships, and complementarity of needs had more impact on long-term relationships.
this supports the claims of FT, giving the theory further value.
discuss reductionism as a limitation of FT.
Basing the explanation of such complex phenomenon as romantic relationships on the application of a series of filters is reductionist and limits the range of real life romantic experiences it can explain.
For example, the Filter Theory does not explain why many people stay a long time in abusive relationships despite the lack of complementarity that is theorised as being a factor of long-term relationships.
This suggests that a holistic approach to studying romantic relationships may be better suited to explaining the complexity of relationships maintenance.
