Relationships Flashcards
What is sexual selection?
Evolutionary explanation of partner preference - behaviours and characteristics that increase reproductive success are passed on and others discarded
What will successful behaviours and characteristics increase the chances of?
Survival of our gene pool
What does anisogamy refer to?
Differences in sex cells (gametes) leading to different behaviours in males and females
What are male gametes?
Sperm - very small and highly mobile, continuously produced, don’t take a lot of energy, unlimited supply
What are female gametes?
Ova - limited supply, have at puberty total number they will ever produce, limited age range to produce offspring, huge investment
What is intra sexual selection?
Members of the same sex competing for members of the opposite sex (USED BY MALES)
What is inter sexual selection?
Members of different sexes choosing a partner from the opposite sex (USED BY FEMALES)
Why may females be more choosy over their partner selection?
Greater investment in time and commitment and the need for ongoing support for her child
Why would a females limited supply of ova have more serious consequences?
Limited! Needs to ensure survival of her gene pool
What type of males will females choose?
Physical health and strength but also be committed to extended period of child growing up - these traits will be carried down to next generation
What is the best way for men to ensure survival of their gene pool?
Quantity over quality - unlimited supply and time frame and relative lack of responsibility for the child
Why do males need to make sure they are chosen?
‘Picky’ females, need to be fit enough to compete with other males and to protect their female from other men
What has the competition between men lead to?
Dimorphism - males are bigger and stronger than females and therefore are likely to carry on this characteristic
What sort of females do males show a preference to?
Fertile females, youthful indicators such as hip-waist ratio
What is a strength of anisogamy?
Buss 1989 surveyed 10000 adults in 33 countries asking questions relating to partner preference. Found females valued resource related characteristics and males valued god looks and preferred younger partners
What is a strength of selection strategies?
Clark and Hatfield’s study - male and female psychology students ‘will you go to bed with me tonight?’ not 1 female agreed compared to 75% of men, supporting idea females are choosier
What research shows male preferences correspond with evolutionary theory?
Singh 1993 2002 - studied waist hip ratio found overall preference of 0.7 - wider hips and narrower waist, signal they are fertile but not currently pregnant
How does Waynforth and Dunbar 1995 support differences for partner preferences?
Lonely hearts ad’s found woman more than men offered physical attractiveness and indicators of youth, men offered resources more than woman did
What is one weakness of sexual selection strategies?
Partner preference is also influenced by social and cultural factors, such as social norms, availability of contraception, women’s greater role in workplace MEANING WOMAN MAY NOT BE AS RELIANT ON MALES FOR RESOURCES SO CHOICE OF MATE MAY CHANGE
What is another weakness of sexual selection strategies?
Cannot explain relationships such as homosexual explanations, woman being older than men etc
What are the 3 factors affecting attraction?
Self disclosure, physical attractiveness and filter theory
What is self disclosure?
Telling the other person sensitive information about ourselves (2 ELEMENTS BREADTH AND DEPTH)
What does sharing secrets often lead to?
Reciprocal self-disclosure, through this we build trust and deepen our bond
What did Altman and Taylor devise to describe how the relationship develops?
Social penetration theory - involves gradual reciprocal exchange of increasingly intimate information - conveying trust, expectation the other partner will reveal sensitive info in return, penetrating each other’s lives and develop a greater understanding
What are 2 strengths of self disclosure theory?
Supporting research - Sprecher and Hendrick 2004 studied homosexual couples and found correlation between several measures of satisfaction and self disclosure. Laurenceau 2005 diary entries found self disclosure linked to higher levels of intimacy
Practical applications - therapy to help couples improve communication - supported by Hass and Stafford 1998 who found 57% of gay couples aid self disclosure was main way they deepened and maintained relationships
What are 2 weaknesses of self disclosure theory?
Cultural differences, bredth and depth not the same in all cultures. Tang 2013 found people in USA disclosed more about sexual thoughts and feelings than in China
Correlation VS causation - much of research cannot establish cause and effect between satisfaction and how much they disclose
What type of theories can explain why physical attractiveness is important in relationships?
Evolutionary theories
What did Hamilton’s and Zuk propose attractiveness may be a signal of?
Honest signal of health and good genes
What did Shackleford and Larsen 1997 find about physical attractiveness?
People with symmetrical faces are rated as more attractive, genetic disorders or illness tend to compromise symmetry so if you are symmetrical you have good genes
Explain the sexy sons hypothesis…
Fisher proposed that a female is drawn to attractive males because then she will have attractive sons
What have psychologists suggested about being drawn to baby like (neotenous) faces?
It triggers a protective instinct which aids survival, bonding and reproduction particularly in females
What did McNulty 2008 find about physical attractiveness?
Not only important at the beginning of a relationship but for several years
What is the halo effect?
Cognitive bias - tendency to assign characteristics to people based on knowledge we already know - if a person has a few positive characteristics we assume they have more
What is a strength of the halo effect?
Research evidence to support concept - Palmer and Peterson 2012 physically attractive people rated as more politically knowledgeable - obvious implications for political process
What is a weakness of the halo effect?
Individual differences - Towhey 1979 - rated how much they liked a person based on photo - people who scored low almost ignored physical attractiveness as a factor
What was the study we replicated to support the halo effect?
Saladin 1988 showed photos of 8 men and asked how likely it was that they would commit murder and armed robbery - attractive men deemed less likely
When do you use a Mann-Whitney U test?
Looking for a difference between 2 groups
Independent groups
Level of measurement is ORDINAL as scores are on a scale
Explain the matching hypothesis…
Proposed by Walster - suggests people end up being attracted to partners similar to themselves, each individual has beliefs about themselves and compromises them with a potential partner - we do not want to be rejected by someone ‘out of our league’
What is one strength of the matching hypothesis?
Supported by research evidence - Feingold 1988 - meta analysis of 17 studies found significant correlation between ratings of attractiveness in married couples
Mirstein 1972 - dating couples rate themselves and then independent people to rate them - people who were dating had scores that correlated
What is one weakness of the matching hypothesis?
Contradictory evidence - Taylor 2011 - online daters sought meetings with people who were more physically attractive than them - seemed they did not consider their own attractiveness
What does the matching hypothesis seem to have?
Face validity as it is noticeable when couples do not seemed matched on physical attractiveness - young women with very older men