factors affecting attraction: filter theory Flashcards
what is a field of availables?
- the entire set of potential romantic partners we could realistically form a relationship with
- not everyone who is available to us is desirable
what is the purpose of the filters?
to narrow down our range of partner coice to a field of desirables
what are the 3 levels of filter?
- social demography
- similarity in attitudes
- complementarity
what does social demography refer to?
a whide range of factors which all influence the changes of potential partners meeting each other
examples of social demography filters
- geographical location (proximity)
- social class
- level of education
- ethnic group
- religion
what is the benefit of proximity?
- more likely to meet people who are physically close to you and share several demographic characteristics
- might frequently encounter people who live further awya, but our most meaningful and memorable interactions are with people who are nearby
- accessibility means that it requires less effort to meet people who live close
why is the realistic field much narrow than the whole range of potential partners?
- our choices are constrained by our social circumstances
- anyone who is too different is discounted as a potential partner
why does homogamy exist?
- outcome of social demographic filtering
- more likely to form a relationship with someone who is socially or culturally similar
- most of us find shared demographic similarities attractive
- probably have more in common with someone who is socially or culturally similar
similarity in attitudes (kerckhoff and davis 1962)
similarity of attitudes was important to the development of romantic relationships, but only for couples who had been together less than 18 months
why is similarity of attitudes important in the earlier stages of a relationship?
- need to agree over basic values and things that really matter to them
- encourages greater and deeper communication
- promotes self-disclosure
- if similarity does not exist and partners have little in common, relationship is likely to not work
similarity in attitudes (byrne 1997)
the greater the similarity is between the attitudes of two people, the greater the attraction between them (law of attraction)
what is complementarity?
- the ability of romantic partners to meet each other’s needs
- two partners complement each other when they have traits that the other lacks
complementarity (kerckhoff and davis 1962)
the need for complementarity was more important for long-term couples ie. later stage of a relationship
why is complementarity attractive?
- gives two romantic partners the feeling that together they form a whole
- adds depth to a relationship
evaluation: research support (kerckhoff and davis 1962)
- longitudinal study
- both partners in dating couples completed questionnaires to assess similarity of attitudes / values and complementarity of needs
- relationship ‘closeness’ was measured by another questionnaire 7 months later
- closeness was associated with similarity of values, but only for couples who had been together less than 18 months (short-term)
- for couples in longer-term relationships, complementarity of needs predicted closeness
evaluation: K&D’s original study is unreliable (levinger 1974)
- many studies have failed to replicate their original findings
- this many be due to social changes over time (eg. dating patterns)
- also problems in defining the depth of a relationships in terms of its length
- assumed that partners who had been together for longer than 18 months were more committed and had a deeper relationship
- filter theory is undermined by the lack of validity of its evidence base
evaluation: complementarity may not be central to all longer-term relationships (markey and markey 2013)
- lesbian couples of equal dominance were most satisfied
- couples had been romantically involved for a mean time of more than 4.5 years
- in some couples, similarity of needs rather than complementarity may be associated with long-term satisfaction
evaluation: actual similarity may matter less than perceived similarity (montoya et al. 2008)
- meta-analysis of 313 studies
- actual similarity affected attraction only in very short-term lab-based interactions
- in real-world relationships, perceived similarity was a stronger predictor of attraction
- this may be because partners perceive greater similarities as they become more attracted to each other
- perceived similarity may be an effect of attraction, not a cause, which is not predicted by the filter model
evaluation: role of filters has changed over time
- online dating and apps have increased field of availables so location no longer limits partner choice
- social change has led to relationships that were less common 30 years ago eg. between partners from different ethnic backgrounds
