Relationships Flashcards
Evaluate the evolutionary approach to relationships?
+ Shackleford et al gave questionnaires to newly married couples + found strong positive correlation between men’s report of mate retention and women’s reports of partners physical violence. Gives theories validity
+ Can explain gender differences in the use of physical violence = Demonstrates there are gender differences
- Extremely difficult to test validity = Studies are correlational so it’s not possible to go back to our past and test out these theories = Can’t establish cause + relationship = Not falsifiable
- Fails to explain differences in culture = suffers from culture bias = Not universal
What is anisogamy and why does it relate to relationships?
- Differences between male and female sex cells
- Causes male’s and female’s to use different strategies to gain reproductive success
What is intra-sexual selection?
- The ‘female choice’
- the idea that due to the greater investment of time, energy and resources require from a female to raise a child, females need to be more careful when choosing a partner.
- Need to be sure partner will provide the right genetic fit + provide resources
What is inter-sexual selection?
- The ‘male choice’
- Refers to features that allow male’s to compete with other male’s for a female mate.
Evaluate intersexual relationships:
- Clark and Hatfield
- Asked male + female student volunteers asked to go around uni campus and ask “Seen u around, find you attractive, will you got o be with me?”
- Found 75% of male student agreed but no female’s said yes
- Demonstrates how male’s want reproductive success and female’s need longer to decide
Evaluate intrasexual relationships:
- Waynforth and Dunbar
- Researched ‘Lonely Hearts’ Columns in American Newspapers
- Found Women described themselves in terms of physical attractiveness and youth
- Men advertised resources and intelligence more
- Demonstrates how females say them are more attractive than others whereas males say more intelligent than others
Evaluate Anisogamy:
- Buss
- Surveyed 10,000 adults in 33 countries
- Found females universally put more importance on resource-related characteristics in a parter
- Male’s prefer younger mates + put more value on female’s ability to reproduce
- Shows difference between male + female partner preferences
What is self-disclosure?
- Gradually revealing information to a trusted person = Low risk to high risk information
What is the Social Penetration Theory?
- Based on reciprocal sharing where we penetrate deeply into each others lives
What is the role of Breadth and Depth in self disclosure?
- Breadth comes before Depth
- We reveal superficial info first, moving into intimate details later
Evaluate Self Disclosure:
- Boom and Bust phenomenon where they found anonymity in online relationships made disclosure of personal info much earlier than face to face relationships = Self disclosure does not always lead to greater intimacy
+ Lots of correlational research to support S-D
+ Has practical information -> Couples therapy
What are the theories involved with physical attractiveness?
- Halo Effect
- Matching Hypothesis
What is the Halo Effect?
- Idea that people who are judged to be attractive are typically perceived in a positive light
What is the Matching Hypothesis?
- When a Person’s choice of partner is a balance between a desire to have the most physically attractive partner possible and their wish to avoid being rejected by someone ‘way out of their league’.
- Results in someone settling for someone who is equally as attractive as them
Evaluate Physical Attractiveness theory?
- Halo effect: Asked people to rate attractive and unattractive people on competence -> Found attractive people rated higher
- Matching Hypothesis: People randomly paired with partners for a dance. Asked 4-6 months later whether they would like to go on second date. Contrary to MH students expressed higher appreciation for more attractive partners regardless of their own level of attractiveness
- Website users more likely to arrange a meeting someone more attractive than them
- Matching hypothesis only works for short-term relationships. Long-term relationships look for needs more than attractiveness
What is Filter Theory?
- When people choose a partner using a set of criteria in order to narrow down the ‘Pool of Availability’
What are the 3 stages of Filter Theory?
- Sociodemographic factors
- Similarity of Attitudes
- Complimentarity
What are the sociodemographic factors in filter theory of relationships?
- Physical proximity
- Level of education
- Costal Class
- Religion
- People more likely to build relationships with people close and with similar beliefs as it gives assurance that relationship is more likely to move forward
What is the similarity of attitudes filter in filter theory?
- People find those who share similar core values and beliefs on things such as career and family values more attractive.
What is the Complimentarily filter in filter theories?
- Relates to each of the partners having some traits that the other partner lacks in order to help each other fulfilling their needs
Evaluate Filter Theory:
- Winch = Similarity of attitudes important for forming relationships but complementarity more important for long-term relationships
- Has good face validity as many people experience sociodemographic factors and complementarity in everyday life
- Sociodemographic factors don’t play as big a role today as proximity is not a problem because of technology = Lacks temporal validity
- Lacks cultural validity
