Relationships Flashcards
Who came up with the theory for sexual selection?
Charles Darwin
What is meant by Anisogamy?
Refers to the difference between male and female sex cells or gametes eg number produced. A consequence of Anisogamy is there is no shortage of fertile males but a fertile female is more rare.
What is meant by Intra-sexual selection?
Intra-sexual selection is where same sex species compete. Often males must compete to get mating rights with females. Winners will then be able to mate and pass genes onto the next generation, making the species stronger.
What is meant by Inter-sexual selection?
Refers to the preference for certain traits in the opposite sex i.e. females preference for taller males will over time result in tall males making up more of the population. In addition traits which show being a good parent are attractive and females are pre-programmed to search for these traits.
What supports are there for the theory of sexual selection?
+ It is a logical theory to apply to real life settings. This is because it argues that both sexes aim to be sexually selective towards certain traits. This is a support as It prevents offspring from being unhealthy which is a logical want/desire for mammals. If this is not achieved it will result in a genetic ‘dead end’ for that species as they will not be able to mate.
+ Fisher (1930) came up with the ‘sexy sons’ hypothesis.
What criticisms are there for the theory of sexual selection?
- A weakness of this is that humans have significantly higher level of thought than animals. This is a criticism because humans have different examples of power in society than animals. ie the most powerful and smartest people are considered ‘nerds’ but the stronger more likely to find muscular people are considered ‘jocks’. This is a weakness as women will often go for ‘jocks’ who are less powerful than ‘nerds’ more powerful.
- A weakness of Darwin’s theory is that it does not account for homosexuality. This is because fit and healthy mates are often set aside for same sex partners. Therefore going against Darwin theory as animals cannot provide offspring with same sex partners. To further weaken we can see that it is found in both animals and humans.
Why is it said that males prefer short term relationships?
Gives males the opportunity to engage with multiple females, passing on their genes multiple times and increasing there survival chance.
What what did Buss (2007) find?
Males were more likely to lower standards in order to achieve an opportunity to engage in mating whilst women aren’t so inclined.
What did Buss and Schmitt (1993) find?
A decrease in the level of attraction to females once the male had sex with them.
Why is it said that females prefer long term mating preferences?
They look for a male who can provide for her and the offspring meaning they need to choose their partner much more carefully and will look for certain traits which they are pre-programmed to do.
What do females look for when considering a mate?
Has resources to invest into them
Can protect them
Shows signs of being a good parent
Compatible with them causing minimal costs
What is a support for short and long term mating preferences?
Clarke and Hatfield had an attractive male/female approach total strangers on a university campus. They asled the strangers “would you go on a date with me” etc questions. Males approached said yes much more than females approached.
Why is it said people are like onions?
Because as you peel back the layers we find different qualities, and come to a deeper level of understanding.
What is social penetration theory?
Altman’s and Taylor (1973) suggest that the more you get to know a person you must give progressively more of your inner self to the other i.e. you share more aspects of your self which may have not been shared with others.
What does social penetration theory require?
Requires trust that takes time to build, requiring each person to reciprocate the placing of trust and accept the person. However this may not always occur and the other person may not accept the action of the other.
What is a strength of social penetration theory?
+ A strength of social penetration theory (SPT) is that Sprecher and Hendrick studied heterosexual relationships which increases the validity. We see this strength as they found a positive correlation between relationships satisfaction and the increasing level of disclosure present in the relationship. This is a strength because it increases the validity as it can be applied to more people. Therefore making the study overall more valid.
What elements are there to social penetration theory?
Breadth
Depth
What is meant by ‘breadth’ in social penetration theory?
At first we are more likely to provide wide ranges of information about ourselves ie where we grew up, favourite films, food. All known as ‘low risk’ information which rejection will not cause much harm to.
What is meant by ‘depth’ in social penetration theory?
Over time self disclosure becomes deeper as trust and knowledge of the other becomes greater. Therefore topics such as past relations, painful memories etc are shared.
What did Ries and Shaver (1988) point out?
That for a relationship to deepen there must be a returning level of reward or showing of a suitable level of emotion or even a returning of a similar level of information.
This maintains the balance in the relationship and over time it becomes deeper and deeper. Can provide a foundation for the couple.
What is a strength of Ries and Shavers theory?
They pointed out that for a relationship to deepen there must be a returning level of reward or showing of a suitable level of emotion or even a similar return of information of true self.
Who pointed out the importance of physical attraction and to what extent is it?
Shackleford and Larsen (1977) said that higher levels of face symmetry brought a higher rating of attractiveness.
What is meant by the ‘halo effect’?
Dion et al (1972) refers to the habit of people to expect good looking people to be good people ie they have ‘physical attractiveness stereotypes’ leading people to believe what’s beautiful is good.
What did Dion et al (1972) find?
Found attractive people are frequently rated as higher in judgements about personal traits such as kindness, sociability and success when compared to those that are less attractive.
