Relationships Flashcards
What is sexual selection?
An evolutionary explanation of partner preference and the attributes/behaviour are passed on to increase reproductive success
What is human reproductive behaviour?
Behaviours which relate to any opportunities to reproduce and increase survival chances of our genes
What is anisogamy
Differences between male and female sex cells as male gametes are small, mobile and continuously produced but female cells are larger static and only produced for a few years
What is a consequence of anisogamy ?
No shortage of fertile males but fewer females giving rise to different mating strategies
What is the difference between inter and intra sexual selection
Intersexual selection is between the sexes and the strategies males use to select females and females to select males (QUALITY OVER QUANTITY)
Intra sexual selection is within each sex so strategies between males to be selected (QUANTITY OVER QUALITY)
What is the strategies for intersexual selection?
- Females make a greater investment of time, commitment and other resources during and after the birth of her offspring
- Wrong partner choices are more serious for the female so their optimum strategy is to find a genetically fit partner who can provide resources
What is the sexy son hypothesis and what selection does it relate too?
The genes we see today are those that enhanced reproductive success so a female who mates with a male with a certain characteristic will have sons to inherit this sexy trait so her sons are more likely to be selected by successive generations of females who will mate with her offspring
What are the strategies for intra sexual selection
- There is competition between males to be selected with a female and the winner of the competition reproduces passing on his characteristics
What has intra sexual selection led to ?
Dimorphism where males and females end up looking very different
- Larger males more likely to be chosen
- Females do not compete for reproductive rights so there is no evolutionary drive towards favouring larger females
- In females youthfulness is selected as women are preferred if they have a large waist to hip ratio as it symbolises fertility
What are the behavioural consequences of intra sexual selection
- The characteristics that are favoured are passed on allowing a male to outcompete his rivals including deceitfulness, intelligence and aggression. Males benefit from behaving aggressively as tehy can then acquire fertile females protecting them competing males
a03 sexual selection and human reproductive behaviour
- STRENGTH : Support for relationships with intersexual selection
> Clark and hatfield sent male and female students to approach other students and ask “ i have been noticing you around campus, i find you attractive, will you go to bed with me?
> no females agreed but 75% of males did showing that females are choosier and males have evolved a different strategy to ensure reproductive success - STRENGTH : Research support for Intra Sexual Selection
> survey of 10000 adults in 33 countries
> asked questions according to a variety of attributes that evolutionary theory predicts are important in partner preference
> found females placed greater value on resource related characteristics than males did such as good financial prospects and ambition and males valued attractiveness
> reflect consistent sex differences in partner preferences - LIMITATION - social and cultural influences underestimated
> social norms of behaviour have influenced partner preferences
> eg availability of contraception, women greater role in workplace so no longer dependant on men
> women preferences no longer resource orientated
> outcome of evolutionary and cultural influences
What is self disclosure - factors affecting attraction
Revealing personal thoughts to strengthen and develop the romantic bond
What is social penetration theory?
- As they increasingly disclose more and more information about eachother as their trust develops the romantic partners are penetrating more and more into eachothers lives
What are the two elements of self disclosure and what do they represent
Breadth and Depth - Altman and Taylor
1. We disclose alot at the start of a relationship but it is superficial information
2. Breadth is narrow as we don’t want to give too much away that can threaten the relationship
3. Eventually we reveal things more intimate and high risk
What does depenetration mean
This is where dissatsified partners self disclose less as they disengage from the relationship
What is one main factor for disclosure to develop
Reciprocity
a03 self disclosure
STRENGTH : Supported by research
> Sprecher and Hendrick studied heterosexual dating couples and found strong correlations between several measures of satisfaction and self disclosure for both partners
> Men and women who used self disclosure were more satisfied and commited
> sprecher found that relationships are closer when they take turns to self disclose
> increasing validity
COUNTERPOINT
> self disclosure might not cause satisfaction directly
STRENGTH : Real World Application
> increase intimacy and bond
> 57% of homosexual men said that open and honest communication was the only way they deepened their relationships
> psychological insights are helpful in helping people who are having problems in their relationship
LIMITATION : Culutural Differences
> Men and women in individualist cultures self disclose more sexual thoughts than those in indivdualist collectivist cultures
> The levels of satisfaction were no different
> limited ungeneralisable explanation
What is physical attractiveness?
A general agreement about how appealing we find somoeones face
What type of faces do they need to have to be more attractive
Symmetrical and Baby Face
What are the 2 factors/procedures affecting physical attraction
Halo Effect
Matching Hypothesis
What is the halo effect
- This is where we have preconcieved ideas about people who are physically attractive
- Dion et al found that physically attractive people are rated as kind, sociable and good
- This makes them more attractive to us so we behave positively towards them - self fulfilling prophecy
- One distinguishing feature has a disproportionate influence on our judgements of a persons other attributes
What is the matching hypothesis?
Look for partners who is most similar to us in terms of attractiveness
PROCEDURE
- male and female students invited to a dance
- rated for physocal attractiveness by objective observers and completed a questionnaire about themselves
- the computer would decide their partner for their evening
FINDINGS
- hypothesis not supported
- most liked also most physically attractive
- Berscheid et al replicated the study but each ppt selected their partner from varying degrees of attractiveness
- ppt tended to choose partners who matched them in physical attractiveness
CONCLUSIONS
- Seek and choose partners whose attractiveness matches our own attractiveness
- risk rejection
A03 PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS
STRENGTH : Physical attractiveness is associated with a halo effect
- palmer and Peterson found physically atractive people were rated as more politically knowledgable
- implications for political process
STRENGTH : Research support for evolutionary processes
- Cunningham found that women who had large cheekbones, small nose and high eyebrows were rated as highly attractive by white, hispanic men
- Symmetry is similar in all cultures
LIMITATION : The matching hypothesis is not supported by real world application
- online daters found people more attractive than them
- underlining valdiity of matching hypothesis
What is the filter theory?
This is where a series of different factors progressively reduces the range of available romantic partners to a smaller pool of availables
What is the field of availables?
The entire set of potential partners that we could potentially form a relationship with
What is social demography
This is the first level of the filter which refers to a wide range of factors all that influence the chances of potential partners meeting eachother in the first place. This includes geographical location, social class, level of education, religion and thnic group
What does social demography suggest?
- You are more likely to meet people who are physically close to you as this makes most of our interactions memorable and meaningful
- The realistic field is much narrower because our choices are constrained by social circumstances
What is the outcome of social filtering- filter theory
Homogamy - where you are more likely to form a relationship with someone who is socially or culturally similar
What is the second level of the filter?
Share our basic values attractive in the earlier stages of the relationship so the SIMILIARITY OF ATTITUDES is important for development only for the couples under 18months
Why is similiarity of attitudes important?- FILTER THEORY
Encourages deeper communication promoting self disclosure
What is the law of attraction
Don byrne says if similarity doesn’t exist it will most likely fizzle out
What is the 3rd level of the filter
Complementarity - similiarity becomes placed by a need for your partner to balance your traits with opposite ones of their own
a03 - filter theory
STRENGTH - Research Support
- Kerkchoff and Davis conducted a longitudinal study where partners in dating couples completed questionnaires to assess similarity of attitudes and complementarity of needs
- Relationship closeness was measured 7 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 and after 18months complementarity of needs was important
COUNTERPOINT
- George Levinger pointed out many studies have failed to replicate the original findings of Kerkchoff and Davis
- Due to social changes over time and length of relationship
LIMITATION - Problems with complementarity
- may not be central
- Markey found lesbian couples of equal dominance were most satisfied and they were involved for 41/2 years
- similiarity of needs more important
LIMITATION - Actual vs percieved similiarity
- meta analysis of 313 studies by Montoya
- actual similarity affected attraction only in short term lab based interactions
- in real world relationships percieved is a stronger predictor of attraction