Relationships Flashcards
What is adaptive ness in terms of the evolutionary explanation for partner preferences?
The quality of being able to change to suit different conditions
What is anisogamy?
Differences between male and female sex cells
What is inter-sexual selection?
Refers to the sexual selection for increased attractiveness to members of the opposite sex. This form of sexual selection tends to lead to a ‘display’ or ‘advertisement’ traits such as showy or colourful body parts
What is Intra-sexual selection?
Refers to sexual selection for increased ability to compete directly with members of the same sex for access to the opposite sex. I tease Hal selection tends to lead to weaponry, armour, fighting ability, and threats displays. It tends to be a male trait
What is physical dismorphism?
The idea that sexes of the same species exhibit different characteristics
What did David Buss study?
Over 10,000 adults in 33 countries. He found that females universally putting importance on resource related characteristics in a partner, However males preferred younger mates and put more importance on the females ability to reproduce e.g. attractiveness
What did Buss discover about Sexual Selection and Mate choice?
He discovered that makes universally put importance on attractive and healthy looks which are signs of fertility. And women look for stability to look after their offspring
What are the two types of sexual selection?
Intersexual selection and Intrasexual Selection
What did Clark and Hatfield study?
They asked male and female student volunteers to approach opposite sex students individually on a uni campus asking the same question ‘ will you go to bed with me tonight’
What did Clark and Hatfield find about their study?
They found marked gender differences in the responses: 75% of males said yes and 0 females said yes
What are the evaluation points for the evolutionary approach?
Ignore cultural and social influences
Mate choice may be more complicated than evolutionary explanations
Suffer from hard determinism
What is self disclosure?
The idea that relationship formation is built off trust with another person which is demonstrated by gradually revealing personal information.
What is the Social Penetration Theory?
Claims that by gradually revealing emotions and experiences and listening to their reciprocal sharing, people gain a greater understanding of each other and display trust
Who proposed the Social Penetration Theory?
Altman and Taylor (1973)
What are the two dimensions of Self -Disclosure?
Breadth and Depth
Explain the two dimensions of self disclosure.
At first people often share a lot of information about certain aspects of themselves(breadth) but consider some topics to be ‘off limits’(depth). As they build trust in their partner, breadth increases and then depth also increases
What is the Halo Effect Theory?
Where we perceive them to have a halo and this therefore makes them appear more desirable on the physical level and personality level.
Who proposed the Halo effect?
Karen Dion (1972)
What did Karen Dion find?
That physically attractive people are consistently rates as kind,strong, sociable, and successful compared to unattractive people. Because we have preconceived ideas about them, we then act more positively towards them
What is Matching Hypothesis Theory?
It explains that we do not select the most attractive person as a potential partner but are attracted to people who matches us in terms of physical attractiveness. It suggests that people assess their own value and make ‘realistic choices’ by selecting the best potential partner who is also likely to share the same level of attraction
Who conducted the research on Matching Hypothesis?
Elaine Walster (1966)
What is the filter theory?
There are several layers of filters that people apply to attractiveness
What is the first filter called in the Filter theory?
Sociodemographic Characteristics
What is the sociodemographic characteristics?
Physical proximity, levels of education amd other important factors. People are more likely to build relationships with people who are near them geographically
What is the second level of the filter theory?
Similarity of beliefs
What is the similarity of attitudes in the filter theory
If they share same code beliefs and values. If people barely have anything in common, the relationship rarely develop
What is the third stage of the filter theory?
Complementarity
What is complementarity in the filter theory?
Refers to each of the partners having some traits that the other partner lacks, and helping each other fulfil their needs
What are the strengths of the Filter Theory?
Supported by research studies
Has face value
What are the Weaknesses of the Filter Theory?
Limits the range of real life romantic experiences it can explain
Researchers claim that direction of causality should be reversed
Culture Bias
Fail to replicate the initial findings
What psychologists came up with the social exchange theory?
Thibault and Kelly (1959)
What is the social exchange theory?
Claim that partners in relationships strive to maximise rewards and minimise costs
Whatarevthe two levels of the social exchange theory?
Comparison level
Comparison levels kf alternatives
What is the comparison level?
Based on persons ideas of how much reward they deserve to receive in relationships. These comparison levels are close linked to a persons self esteem- a persons with high self esteem will have higher expectations of rewards in relationships whereas a person with a low self esteem will have over expectations
What is the Comparison level for alternatives?
It concerns a persons perception of whether other potential relationships would be more rewarding than being in their current relationship. According to the social exchange theory, people will stick to their current relationships as long as they find them more profitable than the alternatives
What does Duck say?
If people consider themselves to be content in their current relationships, they may not even notice that there are available alternatives
According to Thibault and Kelly, what are the three stages a relationship goes through?
Sampling stage
Bargaining stage
Commitment stage
What is the sampling stage?
Where people explore potential rewards and costs of relationships, not just romantic ones, either by direct experience or by observing others
What is the Bargaining stage?
Which is the first stage of any romantic relationship. At this stage, partners exchange rewards and costs, figure out the most profitable exchanges and negotiate by dynamics of the relationships
What is the commitment stage?
When a relationship becomes more stable, and partners become familiar with sources of rewards and costs, amd each other’s expectations, so rewards increase and costs lessen
What is the strengths of the social exchange theory?
Research support
Useful real life applications
What are the weaknesses of the social exchange theory?
Research that lacks mundane realism
Takes a nomothetic approach
