filter theory Flashcards
introduction
- When choosing a partner, people start by looking at the options that are available.
- Not everyone who is available will be equally attractive, so people usually apply some criteria to narrow down the ‘pool of availabilities’ to make sure they choose the right person - ‘Pool of Desirables’.
Kerckhoff and Davis (1962) studied student couples (mainly in short-term relationships of fewer than 18 months) and discovered several important criteria people use to choose a partner.
• They call these criteria ‘filters’, as they help people to sift through all potential partners to choose the right one.
- According to this theory, there are several levels of filters that people apply.
1.Social demography
•The first level is that of sociodemographic characteristics, such as physical proximity, level of education, social class, religion etc.
•Factors that influence the chances of people meeting in the first place.
•These factors are important, because people are more likely to build relationships with people who are geographically close and accessible to them, and whom they are meeting frequently, as this gives them a greater chance to find out more about one another.
•People also find similarities in education, social class and religious beliefs attractive, as this gives them assurance that relationships are more likely to move forward because you have more in common.
→ Anyone too different is discounted
2.similarity in attitudes
•The second level of filters relates to similarity of attitudes.
• People tend to view others as more attractive if they share the same core beliefs and values, such as views on career and importance of family.
•Byrne (1997) noted that similarity of attitudes is especially important in earlier stages of relationships, for couples who have been together fewer than 18 months.
•Presence or absence of similarities is discovered through self-disclosure, which leads to greater feelings of intimacy in a couple. If partners have very little in common, however, relationships rarely develop beyond the first few dates.
3.complementarity
• Although similarities are crucial at the early stages of relationships, it seems that for long-term couples the third filter, complementarity, plays a much more important role.
•Complementarity refers to each of the partners having some traits that the other partner lacks, and helping each other to fulfil their needs.
•For example, one partner may enjoy meeting new people and being socially proactive, and the other may enjoy being introduced to people rather than initiating social encounters themselves, and thus these two people would complement one other.
strength-research support
There is some research support for filter theory.
For example, Winch (1957) found that similarity of interests, attitudes and personality traits were very important for couples in the beginning of relationships, and complementarity of needs had more impact on long-term relationships.
In another study, Newcomb (1961) offered participants free accommodation for a year.
They were assigned a room mate, and he found that a stable friendship developed if roommates had a similar background and similar attitudes to life.
Such studies support the predictions of filter theory and improve its validity
limitation-failure to replicate
Some studies have failed to replicate Kerckhoff and Davis’ original findings.
Psychologists such as Levenger (1974) claim that this may be due to the difficulty of correlating length of relationships and depth of relationships, and of determining what constitutes short-term and long-term relationships.
Kerckhoff and Davis set the cut-off point for short-term relationships at 18 months, assuming that if people have been in relationships longer, it signifies greater commitment. However, this doesn’t apply to all heterosexual couples, nor does it describe the experience of homosexual couples or couples from collectivist cultures. Some couples take much longer than 18 month to establish a similarity of attitudes and complementarity, while others skip sociodemographic filters altogether and feel they are ready to commit to long-term relationships earlier than the 18 month cut-off point.
These experiences can’t be explained by the Filter Theory, suggesting that other factors (e.g. the type of relationship) play a significant role in the initiation and development of relationships.
limitation-direction of causality
Filter theory suggests that people are initially attracted to each other because they are similar. But there is evidence that this direction of causality is wrong.
Anderson et al. (2003) found in a longitudinal study that cohabiting partners became more similar in their emotional responses over time, a phenomenon on they called emotional convergence.
Furthermore, Davis and Rusbult (2001) discovered an attitude alignment affect in longer term relationships. Romantic partners overtime bring their attitudes into line with each others, again suggesting that similarity is an affect of initial attraction and not the cause.
This is a limitation because these findings are not predicted by filter theory
limitation-culture bias
Most research supporting the Filter Theory uses participants from individualist, Western cultures.
Individualist cultures value free will with regard to relationship choice and describe the choice of partners in terms of individual preferences.
In these cultures, people may apply the criteria described by the Filter Theory freely and usually without much influence from other people. However, this is not the case in collectivist cultures, where it is common for romantic relationships to be arranged, so partners are not free to apply individual filters to select their future spouse.
This means that Filter Theory suffers from cultural bias, as it assumes that the rules of partner choice in Western cultures apply to relationships universally.
