Factors Affecting Attraction: Filter Theory

Question 1

What is filter theory?

Answer 1

• an explanation of relationship selection.
• it states that a series of different factors progressively limits the range of available romantic partners to a much smaller pool of possibilities.

Question 2

Who devised the filter theory of how romantic relationships form and envelop and how?

Answer 2

Kerckhoff and Davis
- compared the attitudes and personalities of student couples in short term (less than 18 months) and long term relationships.

Question 3

What is a field of availables?

Answer 3

• the entire set of potential partners (all the people we could realistically form a relationship with)

Question 4

What is a field of desirables?

Answer 4

• not everyone who is available to us is desirable, so there are three main factors that act as filters to narrow down our range of partner choice to a field of desire al;es.

Question 5

What is the first level of filter?

Answer 5

• social demography

Question 6

What does the term social demography refer to?

Answer 6

• a wide range of factors which influence the chances if potential partners meeting each other in the first place.

Question 7

What factors are included in social demography?

Answer 7

• geographical location (proximity), social class, level of education, ethnic group and religion.

Question 8

Who are our most meaningful and memorable interactions with?

Answer 8

• although we may frequently encounter people who live further away, our most meaningful and memorable interactions are with people who are nearby.

Question 9

Social Demography - What is the key benefit of proximity and why?

Answer 9

Accessibility
- it doesn’t require much effort to meet people who live in the same area or go too the same university etc

Question 10

Why is our field of potential partners narrowed by social demography?

Answer 10

• although there’s a vast range and variety of potential partners, the realistic field is much narrower because our choices are constrained by our social circumstances.

Question 11

Social Demography - What happens to partners who are too different from ourselves?

Answer 11

• they are discounted as a partner

Question 12

Social Demography - What is homogamy?

Answer 12

• it means that we are more likely to form relationships with someone who is socially or culturally similar to ourselves (you will probably have more in common worth someone who shares the same religion or ethnicity as yourself).

Question 13

What is the second level of filter?

Answer 13

• similarity in attitudes

Question 14

What does similarity in attitudes mean?

Answer 14

• we find partners who share our basic values attractive in the earlier stages of a relationship, so we tend to discount available individuals who differ markedly from us in their attitudes.

Question 15

What did Kerckhoff and David find about the effect of similarity of attitudes on romantic relationships?

Answer 15

• they found that similarity of attitudes was important to the development of romantic relationships but only in the couples who had been together less than 18 months.

Question 16

Similarity In Attitudes - What is there a need for in partners in the early stages of a relationship and why?

Answer 16

• there is a need for partners in the early stages of a relationship to agree over basic values, this encourages deeper and greater communication and promotes self-disclosure.

Question 17

What is the third level of filter?

Answer 17

• complimentary

Question 18

What is the third filter concerned with?

Answer 18

• the ability of romantic partners to meet each others needs.

Question 19

Complimentary - When do two partners complement each other?

Answer 19

• when they have traits that the other lacks

Question 20

What did Kerckhoff and David find about the importance of complimentary?

Answer 20

• that the need for complimentary was more important in long-term couples.

Question 21

Why is complimentary attractive?

Answer 21

• because it gives two romantic partners the feeling that together they form a whole, which adds depth to the relationship and makes it more likely to flourish.

Question 22

Evaluation - Support From Research Evidence

Answer 22

• Filter theory assumes that the key factors in a relationship change over time, this makes sense and agrees with most people’s experience of romantic relationships, so the theory has face validity.
• Winch: Found evidence that similarities of personality, interests and attitudes between partners are typical of the earliest stages of a relationship. Between partners happily married for several years, complimentary pf needs, is more important than similarity, according to Winch.

Question 23

Evaluation - Direction of Cause And Effect

Answer 23

• Filter theory suggests that people are initially attracted to each other because they are similar. But there is evidence that this direction of causality is wrong.
• Anderson et al - Longitudinal Study - found that cohabiting partners became more similar in their emotional responses over time, a phenomenon they called emotional convergence.
• Davis and Rusbult: discovered an attitude alignment effect in longer-term relationships. Romantic partners overtime bring their attitudes in line with each others, again suggesting that similarity is an effect of initial; attraction and not the cause.

Question 24

Evaluation - Lack Of Temporal Validity

Answer 24

• The rise of online dating in recent years has significantly changed the process of beginning a romantic relationship and it has reduced the importance of some social demographic variables.
• Technology such as the internet and apps like Tinder have made meeting potential partners easier than ever, to the extent that we might well peruse a date with someone outside the usual demographic limits than we would have, say 30 years ago.