P3 - Relationships - Key studies & Theories Flashcards
Explain research into evolutionary partner preference
Buss - Carried out a massive scale study of 10,000 adults across 33 countries. Found that females tend to value males with high resources, whilst males prefer attractive and fertile females
Clark and Hatfield - Asked students on a campus whether or not they would a) go on a date, b) come back to their apartment, or c) have sex with them. 75% of males agreed to sex with a stranger, compared to 0% of females
Explain research into factors affecting attraction in romantic relationships
Palmer & Peterson - Physically attractive people were rated as more politically knowledgeable and competent than unattractive people, even when participants knew they had no particular expertise
Walster et al - 400 participants (m and f) were randomly paired at a dance and later asked to rate their date. Physical attractiveness was found to be the most important factor, rather than similarity
Feingold - Found a strong correlation in the ratings of attractiveness between romantic partners, supporting the idea that we aim for similarity in attractiveness rather than maximum attractiveness in a partner
Who developed social penetration theory?
Altman and Taylor
Developed Social Penetration Theory, whereby partners ‘peel away’ at the layers and barriers that they have built up through self-disclosure. The begin to find out more personal and intimate details about their partner, which brings them closer.
Explain research relating to self disclosure
Tang - Found evidence that US couples disclosed significantly more sexual thoughts and feelings that Chinese couples, suggesting a cultural difference - although self-disclosure was still linked to satisfaction in both cultures
Sprecher and Hendrick - Found a correlation between self-disclosure and satisfaction from a relationship, supporting social penetration theory
Explain research relating to filter theory
Kerchoff and Davis - Developed filter theory to explain relationship formation - after a longitudinal study of 7 months following groups of couples
Levinger - Struggled to find studies which could replicate the findings of Kerchoff & Davis, and said there were possible issues with operationalising terms like ‘successful relationship’
Explain research relating to economic models
Utne et al. - Surveyed 118 recently married couples and measured equity using two self-report scales. Those in equitable relationships were more satisfied than those with an imbalance
Clark and Mills - Argue that these economic models (profit/loss) of relationships don’t apply to friendships or romantic relationships, but only to exchange-based relationships, such as with work colleagues
Le and Agnew - Meta-analysis of 52 studies (N = 11,000) across 5 countries. Found that satisfaction, comparison with alternatives and investment were strong indicators of commitment within a relationship
Explain Duck’s thoery of relationship breakdwon
Theorised that relationships break down in phases rather than suddenly, moving from intra-psychic stages through to a grave-dressing phase
Rollie and Duck - Added to Duck’s model and included a Resurrection stage at the end, whereby the individual feels somehow stronger or more developed after the break up
Explain research behind virtual relationships
Walther and Tidwell - Found that the absence of facial cues in virtual relationships was less of a problem due to other means - for instance the use of emoticons to convey gesture
Explain research into parasocial relationships
McCutcheon - Developed the Celebrity Attitude Scale. They also found no link between a person’s attachment type and their future attitudes towards celebrities.
Maltby - Used the Celebrity Attitude Scale and found there were three levels of behaviours: Entertainment-Social, Intense-Personal, and Borderline Pathological
