Factors affecting attraction in romantic relationships Flashcards
Research support for physical attractiveness:
-There is supporting evidence for physical attractiveness being playing a key role in the initial stages of romantic relationships. Walster
conducted the ‘computer dance’ study, where participants were rated for attractiveness by objective observers and completed a questionnaire about themselves. -They were told the data about themselves would be used by a computer to decide their partner for
the evening, even though they were paired randomly.
-They found participants preferred attractive partners regardless of their own attractiveness.
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-More recently, Taylor (2011)
studied the activity logs of a popular online dating site.
-This measured actual date choices and not just preferences.
-The researchers found that online daters sought meetings with
potential partners who were more physically attractive than them. -These studies provide reliable evidence that physical attraction is a factor in the development of romantic relationships.
Research support for the matching hypothesis
-strength of the matching hypothesis is there is research evidence to support it from studies using real-world established couples.
-Murstein (1972) asked participants to rate the physical attractiveness of photographs of 99 real couples and 98 fake couples.
-He found a strong positive correlation between the attractiveness ratings of the two real partners, which suggested people who have a similar level of physical attractiveness are more likely to enter into a romantic relationship with each other.
-Further support comes from Feingold who carried out a meta-analysis of 17 studies and found a significant correlation between ratings of physical attractiveness and romantic partners.
-Therefore, the research support for the matching hypothesis has high ecological validity and can be related to the development of relationships in real life couples.
Culture bias
-criticism of physical attraction as a key factor in romantic relationships is it does not acknowledge cultural differences in choosing a partner.
-e.g. some cultures
and sub-cultures practice arranged marriage, where factors other than physical attractiveness, can drive the choice of potential partner (e.g. wealth to help support the
family).
-In many cases physical attractiveness is seen as an ‘added bonus’ rather than the main reason for a match.
-It appears there is inherent cultural bias in relationship research on
physical attractiveness and the Matching Hypothesis as a Western perspective of relationship
formation is accepted as a universal explanation of attraction behaviour and is therefore an example of imposed etic.
