factors affecting : filter theory Flashcards
factors affecting attraction: filter theory
in essay question, what are 5 things you speak about?
what is filter theory and who came up with filter theory
- key words such as field of available and field of desirables
- what are 3 factors that act as filters?
social demography (first filter)
similarity in attitudes (2nd filter)
complementary (3rd filter)
evaluation
what is definition of filter theory?
+ who made it up
- what is field of available?
- what is field of desirable?
filter theory = how relationships form and develop
made by Kerckhoff and Davies (1962)
in terms of partner choice, we all have field of available (this is entire set of potential partners who we can form a relationship with) but not everyone who is available to us is desirable to us.
there are 3 main factors that filter our choices into a field of desirables (ideal people who we want to form relationships with).
what is social demography (1st filter)?
what is key benefit of proximity?
how is social demography a filter?
what is homogamy?
refers to wide range of factors such as proximity, social class, age and religion. these influence the chances of potential partners meeting each other in the first place.
the key benefit of proximity is accessibility it does not require you much effort to meet up with people who are close to you.
this is a filter because are choices are limited because anyone who is too different (live far away or middle class) is discounted as a potential partner.
this means you are more likely to form relationship to those who are closer to you, socially and culturally. this is called homogamy.
similarity in attitudes ( 2nd level of filter)
what is similarity in attitudes?
- how is this a filter?
we find partners who share our basic values attractive in earlier stages of a relationship
- so, we tend to discount those who do not share the same attitudes as us.
complementarity ( 3 level of filter)
what is complementarity? (2)
what is example?
what did Kerckhoff and Davies find?
when romantic partners meet each other’s needs.
- two partners complement each other when they have traits that the other one lacks.
for e.g one partner might enjoy making the other laugh and in turn this partner enjoys being made to laugh. or one partners likes to dominate whilst the other likes to be nurtured.
Kerckhoff and Davies found that need for complementarity was more important to long term couples.
evaluation
1 strength
1 weakness
1 strength
Grubber Baldini (1995) et al carried out longitudinal study of couples age 21. found that those who were similar ages and educational level were more likely to have a Longterm and successful relationships. this supports the idea of social demographic factor such as age and educational level.
filter theory suggest that people are initially attracted to each other because they are similar. but Anderson et al (2003) found in longitudinal study that cohabitating couples became more similar in their emotional response over time they called this emotional convergence.
The theory assumes key factors in a relationship change over time which agrees with peoples experiences of romantic relationships therefore the theory has Face Validity. This is a strength as Face Validity can apply the results to a population as the aims have been tested.
