Filter Theory

Question 1

Kerckhoff and Davis (1962) devised the filter theory by…

Answer 1

Comparing attitudes and personalities of student couples in short-term and long-term relationships.

Question 2

The filter theory explains…

Answer 2

How such romantic relationships form and develop.

Question 3

The filter theory states that…

Answer 3

A series of different factors progressively reduces the range of available romantic partners to a much smaller pool of possibilities.

Question 4

First level of filter.

Answer 4

Social demography.

Question 5

2nd level of filter.

Answer 5

Similarity in attitudes.

Question 6

3rd level of filter.

Answer 6

Complementarity.

Question 7

Social demography refers to…

Answer 7

A wide range of factors all of which influence the chances of potential partners meeting each other in the first place; includes geographical location, social class, etc.
More likely to meet people who are physically close to you and who share several demographic characteristics.

Question 8

Key benefit of proximity.

Answer 8

Accessibility.
It doesn’t require much effort to meet people who live in the same area.
Although we might frequently encounter people who live further away, our most meaningful and memorable interactions are with people who live nearby.

Question 9

Outcome of first filter.

Answer 9

Homogamy.

You are more likely to form a relationship with someone who is socially or culturally similar.

Question 10

Similarity in attitudes.

Answer 10

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 11

Kerchoff and Davis found that similarity in attitudes was important to the development of romantic relationships, but only for…

Answer 11

Short-term relationships.
There is a need for partners in the earlier stages to agree over basic values, the things that really matter to them; this encourages greater and deeper communication and promotes self-disclosure.

Question 12

Byrne (1997) described the consistent findings that…

Answer 12

Similarity causes attraction as the law of attraction.

If such similarity doesn’t exist, then the relationship will fizzle out.

Question 13

Complementarity.

Answer 13

Concerns the ability of romantic partners to meet each other’s needs.
Two partners complement each other when they have traits that the other lacks.

Question 14

Kerckhoff and Davis found that the need for complementarity was important for the…

Answer 14

Long-term couples.
At a later stage of a relationship, opposites attract.
Complementarity is attractive because it gives two romantic partners the feeling that together they form a whole, which adds depth to a relationship and makes it more likely to flourish.

Question 15

Limitation: Complementarity may not be central to all longer-term relationships.

Answer 15

A prediction of filter theory is that in the most satisfying relationships partners are complementary, for example one partner may have a need to be dominant and the other need to be submissive.
However, Markey and Markey (2013) found that lesbian couples of equal dominance were the most satisfied; their sample of couples had been romantically involved for a mean time of more than 4.5 years.
This suggests that similarity of needs rather than complementarity may be associated with long-term satisfaction, at least in some couples.

Question 16

Limitation: Actual similarity matters less in a relationship than whether partners perceive or believe themselves to be similar.

Answer 16

This was supported in a meta-analysis of 313 studies by Montoya et al (2008). They found that actual similarity affected attraction only in very short-term lab-based interactions. In real-world relationships, perceived similarity was a stronger predictor of attraction.
One interpretation of this finding is that partners may perceive greater similarities as they become more attracted to each other.
Therefore perceived similarity may be an effect of attraction and not a cause, which is not predicted by the filter model.

Question 17

Strength (includes counterpoint): It is supported by Kerchoff and Davis’s original study.

Answer 17

The researchers conducted a longitudinal study in which both partners in dating couples completed questionnaires to assess two main factors - similarity of attitudes/values and complementarity of needs. Relationship ‘closeness’ was measured by another questionnaire seven months later. The study found that closeness was associated with similarity of values but only for couples who had been together less than 18 months. For couples in longer relationships, the complementarity of needs predicted closeness.
This study provided evidence that similarity is important in the early stages of a relationship, but complementarity is more important later on.
Levinger (1974) pointed out that many studies have failed to replicate the original findings of Kerckhoff and Davis. He put this down to social changes over time and also to problems in defining the depth of a relationship in terms of its length. Kerkhoff and Davis chose an 18-month cut-off point to distinguish between short- and long-term relationships. They assumed that partners who has been together longer than this were committed and had a deeper relationship.
This is a questionable assumption which means that filter theory is undermined by the lack of validity of its evidence base.