Relationships Flashcards
1
Q
Socio-biological explanation of formation
A
- Evolutionary, form of survival efficiency
- males best strategy to further genes is have multiple partners
- they look for signs of fertility and don’t want to waste resources bringing up someone else’s child
- Females seek to ensure child is genetically strong by being selective, looking for resources
- Males compete to be chosen and females select males based on genetic fitness
- relationships form as a way of getting males to invest and reduce chance of desertion and where competition and selection occur
2
Q
Socio-biological explanation
A
- presumes heterosexuality or want for children
- supports gender stereotypes
- explanation may not suit today’s environment as women don’t need to rely on men’s resources
- deterministic
3
Q
Rewards and needs explantion of formation
A
- behaviourist
- operant conditioning, meets needs for love, attention. Spend more time with them increasing chance of formation
- Classical conditioning, associated with pleasant circumstances, find them attractive and increase formation chance
4
Q
Rewards and needs evaluation
A
- ignores biology
- can’t explain intricacies of long term romantic relationship
- allot of research is lab based, lacking EV
- selfish view of people, relationships all for own gain
- supported by similarity theory
- may only be applicable to western cultures
- reductionist, broken down to stimulus and relationship
- deterministic, associations may be out of control
5
Q
SET
A
- Emphasises the effect of costs and rewards upon a relationship.
- The goal of the relationship is to maximize rewards and minimize costs
- rewards compared to costs and compared against the same for alternative relationships
6
Q
SET evaluation
A
- culture bias, collectivist cultures focus less on rewards for themselves
- reductionist, purely rewards and costs no emotion
- most studies lack EV
- most research only focus on short term maintenance
7
Q
Equity theory
A
- perceives individuals motivated to achieve fairness in relationship and feel dissatisfied with inequity
- maintenance occurs through balance and stability
- recognition of inequity presents chance for relationship to be saved
8
Q
Equity theory evaluation
A
- sees people as selfish
- too complex for precise assessment of costs and rewards, emption is unquantifiable
- doesn’t apply to all cultures
9
Q
Ducks theory
A
- stage theory
- intrapsychicic, dyadic, social, grave dressing
10
Q
Ducks theory evaluation
A
- face validity, account we can relate to
- doesn’t account for source of dissatisfaction
- stages don’t apply to all breakdowns
- reductionist, too simplistic to be broken down to just stages
- questionnaires used to create theory, also only within one culture
11
Q
Evolutionary explanation of breakdown
A
- breakdown is avoided as it reduces chance of offspring, males may increase emotional investment to avoid it
- if a male perceives dissolution he may be more promiscuous to make finding another mate easier
- may act sympathetically to keep reputation, make finding future mates easier
12
Q
Evolutionary theory of breakdown evalutation
A
- reductionist, breakdown just adaptive function
- cultural validity questionable
- based on self report
- deterministic
13
Q
Relationship between sexual selection and human reproductive behaviour
A
- Traits that help aid survival by carrying on genes are passed on
- sexually selective traits are those that increase reproductive success
- males and females have different traits as they are subject to different selective pressures
- natural selection favours males maximising potential pregnancies, resulting in intrasexual competition
- they seek signs of fertility such a youth to enhance chances of successful reproduction
- for example waist to hip ratio is a sign of fertility and so is a universally attractive physical characteristic for males
- natural selection favours females to maximises successful reproduction through monogamy, careful mate selection and high parental investment. Seek males displaying genetic fitness like strength and resources
- have intersexual competition, to choose males from those available
14
Q
Relationship between sexual selection and human reproductive behaviour evaluation
A
- females alter appearance and lie about age, men exaggerate resources to make them appear more attractive
- females don’t rely on males like in EEA
- can’t explain homosexuality and couples without children
- research on what males prefer not reality of their actual relationships
- reductionist, reduced to natural responses from evolution
- deterministic
15
Q
Sex differences in parental investment
A
- investment by parents in individual offspring which increases offspring’s chance of surviving at the expense of the ability to invest in other children
- includes provision of resources, like food and protection
- females make most investment; pregnancy, breastfeeding
- males have little forced investment but not certain of paternity
- Evolutionary theory predicts a number of ways in which male and female investment will differ; parental investment, order of gamete release, monogamy, grandparental certainty.
