Relationships Flashcards
Sexual selection
An evolutionary explanation of partner preference. Attributes or behaviours that increase reproductive success are passed on and may become exaggerated over succeeding generations of offspring.
Examples of traits that provide advantages for mating in humans
Aggression, greater height, certain facial and bodily features
Anisogamy
Refers to the differences between male and female sex cells (gametes)
Males (sperm)
- Many (millions)
- Small in size
- Energetically cheap
Females (eggs)
- Relatively few
- Large in size
- Energetically expensive
Intersexual selection
Between the sexes, the strategies that males use to select females or females use to select males (the preferred strategy of the female - quality over quantity)
Which sex is choosier?
Women
What do females typically choose in evolutionary theory?
A partner who can offer resources, who has money status and ambition
An example of the runaway process
If height is a male trait then, over successive generations of females, it would increase in the male population because females would mate with tall males, and over time, produce sons who are taller with each generation and produce daughters who have a greater preference for tall partners.
This may result in a feature becoming exaggerated over many generations.
Sexy sons hypothesis
Where a female mates with a male who has desirable characteristics, and this ‘sexy’ trait is inherited by her son. This increases the likelihood that successive generations of females will mate with her offspring
Intrasexual selection
Within each sex - such as the strategies between males to be the one that is selected (this is the preferred strategy of males - quantity over quality)
Dimorphism
The obvious differences between males and females
Which strategy gives rise to dimorphism?
Competition between males where the victor reproduces and gets to pass on his winning characteristics to the offspring
The optimum reproductive strategy for males
To mate with as many fertile females as possible. This is because of the minimal energy to produce sperm and the relative lack of post-coital responsibility
Buss (1989)
- Carried out a survey of 10,00 adults in 33 countries (cross-cultural)
- He asked questions regarding a variety of attributes that evolutionary theory predicts should be important in partner preference
- Females placed more value on resources than males e.g. money/ambition
- Males valued physical attractiveness and youth (good reproductive capacity) more than females
- This highlights a difference in preferences between sexes
Clark and Hatfield (1989)
- Male and female psychology students individually approached other students asking the question ‘Hi I’ve been noticing you around campus and I find you very attractive’
Would you go on a date with me?
Would you go back to my apartment?
Would you have sex with me? - 75% of males said yes to the last question compared to 0% of females
- This supports the view that women are choosier than men
Other factors influencing mate preferences aside from evolutionary explanations
- Cultural factors such as the availability of contraception
- Women’s greater role in the workplace means that they do not need to depend on men for their resources
Chang (2011)
- Compared partner preferences in China over 25 years - some stayed the same and some changed
- Shows that mate preferences are a combination between cultural and evolutionary influences
Support for waist-hip ratio (WHR)
- Males show preference to a female with a body shape that indicates good fertility
- Singh (1993, 2002) studied this in terms of WHR
- Men generally find any hip and waist size attractive as long as the ratio from one to the other are about 0.7
- Wider hips, narrow waist - says that a woman is fertile but not pregnant
Support from lonely hearts adverts
- Wayneforth and Dunbar studied lonely hearts advertisements in American newspapers
- The researchers found that women more than men tended to offer physical attractiveness and indicators of youth (flirty, sexy, curvy, exciting)
- Men offered resources more than women (successful, fit, mature, ambitious) and sought relative youth and physical attractiveness
Self-disclosure
- Revealing personal information about yourself
- Romantic partners reveal more about their true selves as the relationship develops
- These revelations strengthen the relationship if used appropriately and builds trust
Altman and Taylor’s social penetration theory (1973)
- Self-disclosure is the main concept
- Focuses on how relationships develop
- Relationships are a gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone - they are a reciprocal exchange
- As each partner increasingly reveals more information about one another, romantic partners ‘penetrate’ more deeply into each other’s lives
6 levels involved in social penetration theory
1) Biographical data (age, gender, name)
2) Preference in clothes, food and music
3) Goals and aspirations
4) Religious convictions
5) Deeply held fears and fantasies
6) Concept of self
Breadth and depth
- Use the onion layers to explain this
- As both breadth and depth increases, romantic partners become more committed to one another