Relationships Flashcards
What is evolution?
The process whereby humans have adapted to the environment over millions of years
What does evolutionary behaviour theory suggest?
That if if we accept human evolution it is logical to assume that our behavioural and physical characteristics have also evolved for out survival
When is a behaviour adaptive?
When it leads to increased survival and reproduction of offspring (continuation of genes)
Thus the same characteristic (behavioural or physical) will be passed on to the next generation
What did Buss’s study aim to do?
To study evolutionary theory about mate selection and assess preferred characteristics of the opposite gender for men + women (across all cultures)
What was the procedure of Buss’s study?
10,047 pps (across 33 countries/37 cultures) av. age: 23.05 yrs, pps completed 2 questionarres-
1st: rank on scale 0-3, 18 different characteristics
2nd: rank 13 factors in order of importance when selecting a mate
(factors included target variables of age, looks, money, chastity, ambition)
What were the findings of Buss’s study?
36/37 cultures women valued good financial prospects,
36/37 women valued industriousness,
All 37 men wanted younger mate
All 37 men valued good looks
23/37 men valued chastity- (This showed most cultural difference)
What is sexual selection?
Suggests evolution is driven by competition for mates and development of characteristics that ensure better chance of reproductive success
(NOT survival success which is natural selection)
What is anisogamy?
The difference between the sex cells: namely that sperm 40-600 million released at any one time whereas ova production limited to about 300
What is inter-sexual selection?
Quality vs quantity (typical “female” strategy) Trivers (1972) suggests female makes more investment in time/resources + stands to lose more so opts for this strategy. Leaves males to compete for the female.
What are indicators?
When one gender is selecting a mate from the other they use indicators: which reveal good genes and parenting quality (likelihood mate will survive to provide for offspring)
What is intra-sexual selection?
Quantity over quality (typical “male” strategy) Aim is to mate with as many as possible to ‘spread’ genes widely. This strategy has given rise to dimorphism.
What is dimorphism?
The obvious differences between males + females: e.g. larger males have advantage in competition so are preferred whereas this is not the case in females
What is the vital difference in short term mating strategies of men and women?
Men more likely to ‘sleep around’ as they have much less parental responsibility and produce much more sex cells than women
What did Buss and Schmitt find?
Men have decreased attraction to partner after copulation suggest men are evolved not to spend too long with one person
Why is long term mating different to short term mating?
Both males and females choosy about long-term mates- long term relationships require time + energy
What did Clark and Hatfield (1989) do?
Tested intra and inter sexual selection theory:
Confederate walked up to strangers + asked “would you go to bed with me?”
75% males agreed, 0% females agreed, 50% females agreed to go on a date with them
Supports this theory of short-term mating
What is the key limitation of Clark and Hatfield’s study?
Results may be due to cultural factors- culture suggesting that its socially unacceptable for women to engage in casual mating
What are the strengths of the evolutionary theory of human reproductive behaviour?
Lonely hearts research
waist-hip ratio research
What is the support from the lonely hearts research?
Wayneforth + Dunbar: studied lonely hearts ads in US newspapers.
Found women tended to offer physical attractiveness + indicated youth.
Men tended to offer resources more than women.
Men sought relative youth + physical attractiveness
What is the support from waist-hip ratio (WHR) research?
Evolutionary theory suggests males will prefer female body shape signalling fertility (ratio of waist to hip).
Singh: found up to a point males generally find any size attractive so long as WHR is about 0.7
It signals that the woman is unlikely to be pregnant
What are the weaknesses of the evolutionary theory of human reproductive behaviour?
Whether culture is more important than evolution
The theory is outdated and ignores role of contraception
Methodological criticisms of Buss’ study
Why is cultural importance a limitation for the evolutionary theory?
Argues because women have been denied economic/political power, they rely on men more for resources.
Kasser + Sharma: found women valued resources more in cultures where their status/education more limited
Suggests role of social/cultural/economic factors
Why is the role of contraception a limitation for the evolutionary theory?
Argues that findings of Clark + Hatfield study may now be different due to contraception availability now (more women may agree to casual sex) Thus the study and theory are outdated
What are the methodological weaknesses of Buss’ study?
Focus on preferences not real choices- people may compromise in reality.
But.. further support from real life research- Buss (1989) studied real marriages and confirmed many of the theories- men do choose younger women and when remarrying remarry younger women.
What is the evolutionary explanation of physical attractiveness?
Attractiveness as indications of good health.
Why is perceived health important in attractiveness?
Means partner is physically able to bear children or provide for the family
Good chance that their genes will produce healthy offspring
What did Rhodes et al study?
Tested prediction of facial symmetry as attractive: manipulated images of faces and found attractiveness increased with symmetry increase and visa versa
What are neotenous features?
Baby like features e.g. large eyes, delicate chin, small nose
Why are neotenous features thought to be attractive?
As they may trigger a protective or caring instinct
What did Little et al study?
Examined human preferences for masculinity/femininity for face and body stimuli including voice
Images manipulated to be more or less masculine using computer graphics
What did Little et al find
Found women’s preferences for more masculine stimuli were greater for short term than for long term relationships across all stimuli
For men found preferences for more feminine stimuli were greater for short-term than long term across face and voice stimuli but reverse was true for body stimuli
What does the halo effect suggest?
That we have pre-concieved ideas about the personality traits attractive people must have
What did Dion find about the halo effect?
‘what is beautiful is good’ : physically attractive people are consistently rated as more sociable + successful than those who aren’t
Self-fulfilling as they are then more attractive because of these qualities
What did Palmer and Petersen find?
found physically attractive ppl rated as more politically knowledgable + competent than non-attractive
Halo effect so strong it persisted even when pps knew the ppl had no particular expertise
suggests implications for politics process
Who suggested the matching hypothesis?
Walster et al
What does the matching hypothesis suggest?
ppl choose romantic partners of roughly similar attractiveness.
What is the ‘compromise’ of choosing a partner according to the matching hypothesis?
we want the most physically attractive partner possible (for evolutionary cultural/social, mental reasons etc) but balance this to avoid rejection based on our perceived ‘value’ of ourselves
What was Feingold’s study?
meta analysis of 17 studies + found strong correlation in ratings of attractiveness between romantic partners (matching hypothesis)
especially supports the theory as studies looked at real-life partners- a more realistic approach than situations with ppl who haven’t met
What was the procedure of Walster et al ‘s study?
(1966)
undergraduates- (Minnesota uni) invited to ‘get acquainted’ dance. 347 pps, random selection. Covertly rated on attractiveness when they collected their ticket.
Asked to complete long questionnaire on personality/intelligence etc
randomly matched with a date, asked half way through dance + 6 months later
what were the results of Walster’s study?
findings didn’t support the matching hypothesis: once paired regardless of personal attractiveness dates were more likely to try and arrange follow up dates (if date more attractive)
other factors like personality + intelligence didn’t affect liking of dates
even when given false info. about how likely date was to enter a relationship with pps physical attractiveness effect dominated over a matching effect/fear of rejection
What did Taylor study?
Studied activity logs of a popular online dating site to test in real life the matching hypothesis. (Real date choices not preferences)
What were Taylor’s results?
Online daters sought meetings with potential partners more attractive than them. It seemed they didn’t consider their own attractiveness level when making decisions about who to date
What are the cultural influences upon physical attractiveness? (AO3 evaluation of physical attractiveness)
Research support from both Cunningham et al and Wheeler and Kim demonstrates what is considered physically attractive is remarkably consistent across all cultures
What did Cunningham et al find? ( AO3- physical attractiveness)
Questioned white, Asian and Hispanic males
All reported attractive female features as large eyes, prominent cheekbones, small nose and high eyebrows
What did Wheeler and Kim find? (AO3- physical attractiveness)
Found that Korean and American students judged physically attractive ppl to be more trustworthy, concerned for other ppl, mature and friendly
Suggests the stereotype is just as strong in collectivist cultures as in individualist
What potentially is a more important factor in relationship formation than physical attractiveness? (AO3- physical attractiveness)
Complex matching: Matching hypothesis ignores that ppl may offer many desirable characteristics that compensate for a lack of physical attractiveness (personality, status, money etc)
Termed ‘complex matching’ by Hatfield & Sprecher
(e.g. older wealthy successful man pairs with younger attractive female)
What did Takeuchi find in relation to the idea of complex matching? (AO3 physical attractiveness)
Found gender differences in complex matching: Women valued physical attractiveness as less important than men + so it impacted less on their perception of a partner’s social desirability
What did Takeuchi’s findings in relation to the idea of complex matching suggest? (AO3 physical attractiveness)
That men can compensate for deficit in physical attractiveness with other desirable qualities e.g. personality, status, money, whereas women cannot
What is self disclosure?
Revealing personal information about yourself - – thoughts, feelings, experiences.
What are the two separate categories of self-disclosure?
Self disclosure ‘given’ (disclosing own thoughts) and self-disclosure received (hearing info disclosed by someone else)
Why is self-disclosure linked to development of romantic relationships?
Jourard (1971) suggested self-disclosure is important in developing romantic relationships. Greater disclosure -> greater feelings of intimacy.
(more you know someone the more you’ll disclose)
Ppl reveal more intimate info to ppl they like + tend to like those they reveal info to (Collins and Miller 1994).
What did Sprecher et al aim to study? (self-disclosure AO1)
whether reciprocal self-disclosure was more influential in determining attraction than one sided self-disclosure and listening.
What was the procedure of Sprecher et al’s study? (self-disclosure AO1)
156 undergrads paired. (2/3 were female-female). Each ‘dyad’ (pair) unacquainted & began self-disclosure task over skype.
Reciprocal condition: pair took turns disclosing info & asking questions.
Non-reciprocal condition: one asked questions and the other person disclosed.
After, researchers assessed liking, closeness, perceived similarity + enjoyment of the interaction.
What were the results of Sprecher’s study?
Found reciprocal condition pps reported more liking, closeness, similarity and enjoyment.
Non-reciprocal pps then swapped roles. Ratings of liking, closeness, similarity and enjoyment still higher in reciprocal group, even after the non-reciprocal group had swapped.
Suggests turn taking self disclosure more effective than extended reciprocity in disclosure.
Level of self-disclosure received was a better predictor of liking and loving than self-disclosure that is given.
Overall disclosure was predictive of whether couple stayed together for longer than 4 years.
What are the two parts of Altman and Taylor’s self disclosure theory?
Social Penetration Theory
Breadth and Depth of Self-disclosure
What is social penetration theory?
Self-disclosure: the gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone.
Involves the reciprocal exchange of info to display trust in each other.
At each new disclosure partners ‘penetrate’ more deeply into each other’s lives, + gain a greater understanding of each other.
What was the order of self-disclosure suggested by social penetration theory?
- Biographical data like age, name.
- Preferences for food, clothing etc
- Goals and aspirations
- Religion
- Deep fears and fantasies
- Concept of inner self
What was Altman and Taylor’s breadth and depth of self-disclosure?
Suggests Self-disclosure has two elements: breadth and depth: as both increase partners are more committed
(Layers of an onion is a metaphor for this)
To start we reveal lots of ‘low-risk’ info (the bigger outer layers of the onion)
As relationship develops we peel off layers that become more intimate/meaningful to us. E.g. secrets, painful memories etc.
What is Reis and Shaver’s reciprocity of self disclosure?
Suggested key factor in disclosure strengthening romantic relationships is that it is from both partners (reciprocal.)
Once one reveals something, hopefully partner will respond in with understanding/empathy
& they then reveal their own intimate thoughts and feelings. (A balance.)
What did Sprecher and Hendrick find? (AO3 eval. self-diclosure)
Studied heterosexual dating couples to gauge levels of satisfaction with relationship + use of self-disclosure.
Strong correlations between several measures of satisfaction and self-disclosure (both theirs and their partner’s).
Men and women using self-disclosure + believed partners did too were more satisfied +committed to romantic relationship.
