Factors affecting attraction in romantic relationships

Question 1

Factors affecting attraction

Answer 1

Self-disclosure

Question 2

Jourard (1971)

Answer 2

Relationships are formed on the basis of trust
Revealing info= intimacy

Question 3

Onion Metaphor

Answer 3

We have layers to getting to know someone
Peeling them layers= more personal
BREDTH + DEPTH- The wider the onion the more you need to know someone
Lower risk info is on the outside and the further you ‘peel back’ the more high risk info
High risk info may put people off and force them to disclose information

Question 4

Altman + Taylor

Answer 4

Social Penetration Theory
Self-disclosure has to be equal (Comprimise)
Gradually revealing info and emotions

Question 5

Reis + Shaver

Answer 5

Reciprocity
Suggests there needs to be a balance of self disclosure
Even exchange
Leads to greater intimacy

Question 6

Sprecher and Hendrick (2004)

Answer 6

Strong correlation between self-disclosure and satisfaction
High self disclosure= High satisfaction
m+f who used self-disclosure + believed in their partners were more satisfied

Question 7

Laurenceau et al (2005)

Answer 7

Used a method where ps wrote a daily diary
Found self disclosure and perceptionof self disclosure were linked to high levels of intimacy in long term married couples
Increases the validity of the social penetration theory

Question 8

Self disclosure evaluation

Answer 8

• Self disclosure won’t “save a relationship” and other factors need to be taken into account
• Diary entries (self-report)
• Correlational not causation
• Can’t generalize to homosexual couples
• Ethnocentric as it only focuses on Westernized cultures

+ Real life application - marriage counselling

Question 9

Hass + Stafford

Answer 9

57% of gay men and women said open and honest self-disclosure was the main way they maintained, deepened, connected and committed to relationships

Question 10

Hass + Stafford

Answer 10

57% of gay men and women said open and honest self-disclosure was the main way they maintained, deepened, connected and committed to relationships

Question 11

Tang et al (2013)

Answer 11

Some research isn’t applicable to some cultures
Individualistic cultures are more sexual than collectivist so research isn’t generalisable

Question 12

The Halo effect (Thorndike, 1920)

Answer 12

“Beauty bias”
Cognitive bias where our perception of someone is influenced by their traits (EG: Looks)

Question 13

Palmer + Peterson (2012)

Answer 13

Rate attractive and unattractive people in terms of how politically competent they were believed to be
Ps tended to act more positively towards attractive people

Question 14

Dion et al (1972)

Answer 14

Attractive people are consistently rates as successful, kind and sociable compared to unattractive people

Question 15

Cognitive bias

Answer 15

We idolise attractive people
Unattractive people are more used to rejection
Beauty and performance aren’t correlated

Question 16

McNulty et al (2008)

Answer 16

Initial attractiveness brought couples together and continued to be important even after marriage or several years

Question 17

The Matching Hypothesis

Answer 17

Tendency to develop relationships with people who are approx the same attractiveness
A balance between trying to not get rejected and most attractive

Question 18

Walster et al (1966)

Answer 18

-Students randomly matched to blind dates at a dance
-Before each took a personality and aptitude test
After; students rated their dates
-Only thing that mattered was their physical attractiveness

Females who were rated higher were asked out on a second date by lower-rated men
X DOES NOT SUPPORT THE MATCHING HYPOTHESIS

Question 19

Taylor et al (2011)

Answer 19

Studied the logs of a popular dating site
Online daters sought meetings with people who were physically more attractive
= not considering their own attractiveness

X DOES NOT SUPPORT THE MATCHING HYPOTHESIS

Question 20

Sex differences in sexual attractiveness

Answer 20

MELTZER (2014) Husband has more satisfaction when wife is more attractive but women don’t really care

PASCH + BRADBURY (1998) Both m+f partners who were more supportive, trustworthy and warm= more satisfied

Question 21

Silverman (1971)

Answer 21

Couples observed in natural dating
Observed those with the dame physical attractiveness and they appeared more happy and showed more intimacy

(NOT fully reliable as its only an observation)

Question 22

Murnstein (1973)

Answer 22

Photographs of couples who were seen to have the same level of attractiveness

Question 23

The Filter Theory

Answer 23

Kerckhoff + Davis (1962)
Once we meet someone we engage in the 3 stages of filtering:

1. Social demographic
2. Similarity and attitudes
3. Complimentary

Question 24

Level one: Social demographic

Answer 24

Many factors such as:
-Proximity
-Social class
-Level of education
-Level of education
-Ethnicity/religion

Narrows down partner choice
Homogamy: We are more likely to form a relationship with someone who is socially and culturally similar

Question 25

Level two: Similarity and attitudes

Answer 25

Look for partners with similar psychological factors and beliefs
“Field of desirables”
Important in short-term relationships

BYRNE(1997)- Law of attraction
Presence and absence of similarities are discovered through self-disclosure= Having little in common leads to no relationship developing

Question 26

Level three: Complimentary

Answer 26

The ability for partners to meet each others needs
Compliment each other
“You complete me”
Opposites attract

KERCKHOFF + DAVIS: More important in long term relationships
When together they make a whole and it adds ‘depth’ to their relationship (Onion metaphor)

Question 27

Short-term relationship

Answer 27

Less than 18 months

Question 28

Long-term relationship

Answer 28

More than 18 months