Relationships Flashcards
What is anisogamy?
The difference between male and female sex cells. This causes there to be two different mating strategies. (think size, rate of production, amount produced etc.)
What is inter-sexual selection?
The female-preferred method. Quality over quantity. Males compete to be chosen.
What is intra-sexual selection?
The male-preferred method. Quantity over quality. Males compete for access to females.
Evaluation of sexual selection and reproductive behaviour
+Research support for preferences related to anisogamy. Buss surveyed over 10,000 adults in 33 countries and found that males want fertility and looks and females want resources
+Research support for inter-sexual selection. Clark and Hatfield (Uni student study)
-Ignores social and cultural influences (social change is faster than evolution eg women work-don’t need resources from men)
+Support from waist hip ratio. Singh- men find a WHR of 0.7 most attractive-fertility
+Waynfourth and Dunbar-reviewed qualities which men & women offered to a potential new partner and found that men typically offered resources, (eg successful, ambitious) and women offered indicators of youth (eg flirty, exciting etc)
What is self disclosure
Revealing personal information about yourself. Romantic partners reveal more about their true selves as their relationships develop. These self-disclosures about ones deepest thoughts and feelings can strengthen a romantic bond when used appropriately
What is social penetration theory?
Partners penetrate more deeply into each others lives as they self-disclose
What is breadth and depth of self-disclosure
Shrek onion metaphor. Start with breadth and move onto depth
What is reciprocity of self-disclosure?
Successful relationships need a balance in self-disclosure. Without reciprocity the relationship will not develop.
Evaluation of self-disclosure
+Sprecher and Hendrick found that couples in satisfying relationships disclose more and believe their partners do too
+Real-life application, self disclosure is a skill which can be learned and developed
-individualistic + collectivist cultural differences
-belief that we no longer self-disclosure during a relationship breakdown is wrong-may disclose in an attempt to save relationship
-More self-disclosure does not necessarily cause satisfaction
Explain the importance of physical attractiveness
Shackelford and Larsen found that a symmetrical face is attractive because its an honest sign of genetic fitness; neotenous female faces trigger caring instincts in males
What is the halo effect?
We have positive stereotypes of attractive people that influence opur judgement of them (Dion et al.)- attractive people are NICE
The matching hypothesis
We chose partners who are roughly a similar level of physical attractiveness to us. (Walster et al.)
Evaluation for Physical Attractiveness
+there is research to support the halo effect. Palmer and Peterson found that attractive people were rated as more politically competent
- individual differences. Towhey found that some people are less sensitive to physical attractiveness when making judgements on personality
-Feingold did a meta-analysis which showed a correlation between attractiveness of real life partners
+Attractive female characteristics are universal across cultures.
+Taylor et al. online dating is based on physical attractiveness
What is social demography (1st filter)
Kerckhoff and Davis
Proximity and education levels
What is similarity in attitudes (2nd filter)
Byrne
Importance of shared beliefs and values
