Relationships Flashcards
What does the evolutional theory state?
mens best chance at offering is quantity and for women it is quality
What is intrasexual selection?
where members of one sex (usually males) compete with members of the same sex to gain access to members of opposite sex
What is physical dimorphism?
Differences in body size+ appearance between males and females, explained by intra-sexual selection
What is inter-sexual selection?
female choice, based on the idea that females place greater investment of time+ energy into raising a child, so they are more selective when choosing a partner
What does inter-sexual selection state females will look for?
Men who can provide the right genetics, and necessary resources to provide for them and their child
What did Clarke and Hatfield do and find?
A sample of male and female students approached total strangers of opposite sex+ asked 1/3 requests
1) Will you go out with me tonight? (50% women, 56% male)
2) Will you come back to my place? (6% women, 69% men)
3) Will you have sex with me? (0% women, 75% men)
Which theory did Clarke and Hatfield support?
Sexual selection, men trying to pass on genes by having many sexual partners
What are the two dimensions of self-disclosure theory?
Breadth and Depth
What does social penetration describe about self-disclosure?
At first, people share lots of information about certain aspects of themselves (breadth), but consider some topics to be off-topic, as trust is built depth of information becomes deeper
What is sexual selection?
Natural selection for mating success, aim is to reproduce so that genes are passed on
What is anisogamy?
Differences between male and female sex cells
According to intrasexual selection, what do males need to compete for?
Fertile females, sexual selection favours strong and aggressive males
What did Singh study?
Studied preferred waist-to-hup ratio for winners of the Miss America contest for a decade
What did Singh find?
Men generally found any waist+ hip size attractive, as long as rartio between them is around 0.7
- this occurs when female has larger hips+ smaller waist
- men liked that because it is a sign a woman is fertile but not currently pregnant
What did Singh’s study support?
Theory of sexual selection
What is the strength of sexual selection?
Large amounts of supporting studies (Singh, Clarke+Hatfield, Buss)
What are the weaknesses of the sexual selection theory?
- Gender bias, exaggerates the differences between mating tactics in men+women
- reductionist, takes biology as a main factor and also doesn’t explain same-sex relationships
- evolutionary theory assumes mate preferences is due to biological factors, could be due to culture+ environment, Kasser and Sharma found 37 cultures studied by Buss, higher female value placed on security sand male resources in culture with limited female access to education+status
This suggests preference for males who provide resources is due to culture+ being denied opportunities
What is the self-disclosure theory?
A theory by Jourard that is based on the idea that relationship formation is built on trust and demonstrated by gradually revealing personal information
According to Jourard, what does disposing thoughts and feelings allow a partner to do?
Reveal their “true self”, and lead to greater intimacy in romantic relationships
What is the social penetration theory and who was it proposed by?
Proposed by Altman+Taylor, the theory claimed that by gradually revealing emotions, people gain greater understanding and deeper trust in relationships
What did Collins and Miller say about familiarity?
They said that people reveal more intimate information to those they like and people like who they have revealed intimate information to (a cycle)
What did Berg and Archer say about reciprocity?
The more one person discloses to another, the more disclosure that they expect in return
What did Derlega and Grzelak say about the appropriateness of disclosure?
They said that people should engage in moderate level of self disclosure early in the relationship
High and low intimacy self-disclosure decrease attraction in early stages
What are the strengths of self-disclosure theory?
Research support for self-disclosure as factor affecting attraction in romantic relationships, Laurenceau et al asked Pps to write a daily diary entry about relationship, found that self-disclosure led to greater feelings of intimacy (reverse true)
Further supporting evidence, Sprecher et al paired up and questioned via skype, alternative self disclosure or one then the other (reciprocal turn taking off self disclosure led to greater satisfaction+ enjoyment)
What are the weaknesses of self-disclosure theory?
Cultural differences, Tang et al, reviewed research regarding sexual self-disclosure and concluded that in USA (individualist) self-disclosure more than China (collectivist)- not generalisable to all cultures
What did Shackleford and Larsen find?
Those with symmetrical faces are rates are more attractive which may indicate genetic fitness
What can physical attraction be linked to?
Sexual selection
What is the Halo effect?
People are perceived as a certain way based on how attractive they are
What did Clifford and Walter find about the Halo effect?
Teachers judge attractive students as more intelligent that unattractive students
What did Dion et al find about the Halo effect?
Adults and nurse in paediatric wards punish unattractive children more harshly than attractive children
What did Eastwick et al find linked to physical attractiveness?
Suggested that despite physical attractiveness having been linked to male sexual selection it may be just as important to women although they suggested more so in selecting a short term mate
Physical attractiveness less important in serious relationships, however men more likely to rely on physical attractiveness in long-term
What is the matching hypothesis?
When people estimate whether a partner will fin them attractive based on their own attractiveness- will go for someone on “same level”
What did Walster+ Walster research?
- Researchers used 376 m+ 276 f volunteers in a dance, and 4 independent judges secretly rated students on attractiveness
- Pls asked to fill in questionnaire (told ir was to determine their ideal partner, however pairing was random)
- during interval at party+ 4-6 months later students asked whether they found their partner attractive
What did Walster+ Walster find?
Pps responded positively to those whose rating was higher on attractiveness scale, regardless of own attractiveness
Rejects the matching hypothesis theory because people regardless of their own attractiveness, favoured attractive dance partners
What did Taylor et al?
Found no evidence that online daters initial attractions based on similar PA, found a preference for attractive partners even if they were out of their league
- despite this, more responses were gained from those who were more suitably matched
What are the strengths of theory of physical attractiveness?
Research support for matching hypothesis, Feingold et al found significant correlation in ratings of attractiveness between partners in a meta-analysis of 17 studies, supporting matching hypothesis
Matching hypothesis research not gender specific, Aronson et al claimed when using homosexual couples to investigate matching hypothesis, physical attractiveness still priority when seeking mate
What are the weaknesses of theory of physical attractiveness?
Research contradicting matching hypothesis, Taylor et al studied activity logs of dating website+ found online daters sought meetings with those more physically attractive, did not consider own level of attractiveness.
What did Kerckhoff and Davies study and find?
Studied student couples and discovered important criteria people use to help them choose a partner
What are criteria filters?
These are criteria that hep people sift through all potential partners to choose the “right one”
What are some social characteristics that affect who we start relationships with?
Gender, Location, Age, Culture
These determine the likelihood of people meeting in first place
Why is it important we have similar social characteristics to a partner?
Helps us feel similar to people and more at ease- making them more attractive
What are some psychological characteristics that affect who we start relationships with?
- Similarity in attitudes
- beliefs
- values
- sense of humour
- preferences
What did Bryce say about the similarity of attitudes?
Noted that similarity of attitudes is especially important in earlier stages of relationships, for couples who have been together fewer 18 months
- If partners have very little in common then relationships rarely develop
What did Kerckhoff and Davis find about filter theory?
Complementarity is important in relationships and refers to each of the partners having some traits that other partner lacks and helping each other to fulfil their needs
What did Kerckhoff and Davies do?
Did a longitudinal study of 94 couples and did 2 questionnaires 7 months apart
What did Kerckhoff and Davies find?
Initial analysis revealed only similarity between partners appeared to be related to ratings of closeness towards a partner
What are the strengths of filter theory?
- Has face validity, assumes key factors in a relationship change over time, has face validity because makes sense and agrees with most people experience of romantic relationships
- support from research evidence, Winch found similarities of personality, interests and attitudes between partners are typical of early stages of relationship- shows matching hypothesis in terms of needs
What are the Weaknessess of filter theory?
- Failure to replicate, George Levinger showed that many studies have failed original findings of filter theory- down to social changes over time (difficult to apply)
What is social exchange theory?
Social exchange theory is an economic theory, saying that relationships are exchanges between partners, aiming at balancing costs and rewards