Relationships

Question 1

Define sexual selection

Answer 1

An evolutionary explanation of partner preference

Attributes or behaviours that increase reproductive success are passed on and may become more exaggerated over generations

Question 2

Define Human Reproductive Behaviours

Answer 2

Any behaviours which relate to opportunities to reproduce and therefore increase the survival chances of our genes.

caused by sexual selection - it encourages behaviour that increases opportunities to reproduce

Question 3

What is Anisogamy

Answer 3

Refers to the differences between male and females gametes

Question 4

How are human gametes different?

Answer 4

Male gametes are small, highly mobile, created continuously until old age and require little energy to produce

Female gametes are larger, static, produced at intervals for a limited time, and require a huge amount of energy

Question 5

What’s a consequence of anisogamy for mate selection?

Answer 5

no shortage of fertile men but fertile women are like a “rare” resource

Question 6

Why else is anisogamy important for mate selection?

Answer 6

It gives rise to inter - and intra-sexual selection

Question 7

What is Inter-sexual selection?

Answer 7

Refers to competition between sexes - strategies used by males to select females and vice versa

Question 8

What is intra-sexual selction?

Answer 8

refers to competiton between sexes - strategies males use to BE selected

its preferred by males

Question 9

Why is Inter sexual selection preferred by women?

Answer 9

preferred by females bc they are more “choosy” due to their limited number of ova and so they want a genetically fit partner who is able to provide

Question 10

What does inter-sexual selection mean for successive generations?

Answer 10

This means those features that are desirable for females are passed on - sexy son hypothesis

Question 11

Why is intra sexual selection preferred by males?

Answer 11

quantity over quality

prefer to spread and pass on their genes as much as possible

Question 12

What does intra-sexual selection mean for successive generations?

Answer 12

there are some controversial behavioural and psychological consequences

it might benefit males to behave aggressively or even acting in a certain way so they can compete successfully

Question 13

research support for the sexual selection theory (BUSS)

Answer 13

(+) Buss studied over 10,000 adults across 33 countries
asked Qs + found females did care more about resources than males e.g financial prospects and ambition
males valued Reproductive capacity e.g good looks + youth
supports predictions from sexual selection theory \
furthermore shows that this theory can be applied across cultures

Question 14

research support for the sexual selection theory (Singh)

Answer 14

Singh studied males interest in waist-hip ratio (WHR)

this theory predicts that males will prefer a female body shape that signals fertility

found that males generally find any hip to waist ratios attractive as long as waist is narrower than hip - has a ratio of 0.7

this is attractive bc its an “honest” signal - it can’t be faked

Question 15

Research support for the sexual selection theory (Waynforth and Dunbar)

Answer 15

Waynforth +Dunbar studied lonely hearts advertisements

found women showed off youth, looks, etc

men showed off their resources

Question 16

Research support for inter-sexual selection (Clark + Hatfield)

Answer 16

male and female psych students sent out across a uni campus

they approached males and females asking the same question “I have noticed you around campus and I find you to be very attractive, will you go to bed with me tonight”

no females said yes but 75% of males did

shows that females are more choosy

Question 17

weakness of the sexual selection theory

Answer 17

(-) ignores social and cultural influences
women’s greater role in the workplace means they’re no longer dependent on men to provide for them

CHANG et al compared mate preferences over 25 years and found some had changed but some had stayed the same

mate preferences therefore influenced by both evolutionary and social influences and this theory fails to account for both, making it limited

Question 18

What is self-disclosure?

Answer 18

Revealing personal info about yourself

in romantic relationships, partners reveal more as the relationship develops

Question 19

What is the Social Penetration Theory?

Answer 19

The gradual process of revealing your inner self to someone else

in romantic relations, involves the reciprocal exchange of info

its a basic feature of romantic relations

Question 20

Who came up with the Social Penetration Theory?

Answer 20

Altman and Taylor

Question 21

What are the 2 elements to self-disclosure

Answer 21

Breadth and depth

Question 22

Explain “breadth and depth”

Answer 22

as breadth and depth increase, romantic partners become more committed to each other

at the start of a relationship bread and depth are narrow you talk about superficial things but still not a lot in order to not scare them away

Question 23

Why is reciprocity important?

Answer 23

Reis and Shaver say for a relationship to develop, there needs to be a reciprocal element to disclosure
So there is a balance increasing intimacy

Question 24

Research support for self disclosure (Sprecher+hendrick )

Answer 24

Sprecher and Hendrick studied heterosexual relationships + found strong correlations between several measures of satisfaction and self-disclosure - those who self-disclosed and believed their partners did so too were more satisfied with their relationship

however correlation is not causation, this does not mean that self disclosure causes satisfaction

Question 25

Cultural differences in self disclosure?

Answer 25

the predictions that depth _ breadth for self disclosure will lead to more satisfaction is not true for all relationships
Tang et al concluded that men + women in USA disclose significantly more sexual thoughts than men and women in china
ASKMISS!!

Question 26

Research support for Self-disclosure (Larenceau)

Answer 26

Laurenceau et al used a method that involved pps writing daily diary entries

found that self-disclosure + perception of self-disclosure in a partner were linked to higher levels of intimacy in long term married couples

Question 27

Real-life application of self-disclosure (Hass and Stafford)

Answer 27

found 57% of gay men + women in their study said open + honest self-disclosure was the main way they maintained + deepened their committed relationships

if less-skilled partners can learn to use self-disclosure then this could bring several benefits to relationships

Question 28

§What are the three factors affecting attraction in romantic relationships?

Answer 28

Self-disclosure, physical attractiveness and filter theory

Question 29

Explain the term “physical attractiveness”

Answer 29

The term usually applies to how appealing we find a person’s face

there is general agreement across cultures about what is considered attractive

Question 30

Why is physical attractiveness important in the formation of relationships?

Answer 30

has evolutionary advantages - shackelford and Larsen found symmetrical faces to her rated more attractive bc it may be a genuine signal of genetic fitness

ppl are also attracted to baby features as they trigger a protective and caring instinct

McNulty et al found that initial attractiveness continued to be an important feature after marriage too

Question 31

Describe the halo effect

Answer 31

the term describes how one distinguishing feature(e.g attractiveness) tends to have a disproportinate influence on our judgement of their other attributes e.g their personality

Dion et al found that physically attractive ppl were consistently rated as kind, smart, strong etc compared to unattractive ppl

As we believe they possess these qualities we behave in a good way towards them, reinforcing it

Question 32

Describe the Matching Hypothesis

Answer 32

The belief that we don’t select the most attractive ppl but instead we are attracted to those who “match” our level of attractiveness

we balance wanting then most physically attractive partner with the prospect of being rejected

Question 33

Research support for phsyical attractiveness - halo effect (Palmer + Peterson)

Answer 33

They found that physically attractive people were rated as more politically knowledgable + competent
this halo effect persisted even when pps knew that these knowledgable people had no expertise
this has implications for politics - politicians may be voted for purely bc of looks

Question 34

Research support for physical attractiveness - matching hypothesis (Feingold)

Answer 34

Carried out a meta-analysis of 17 studies + strong correlation in ratings of attractiveness between partners
real life partners

HOWEVER Taylor et al studied activity logs of a dating site - online daters sought dates with partners who were more physically attractive

both using real life couples but produced contradicting results

Question 35

Research support for physical attractiveness (Cunningham et al + Wheeler + Kim)

Answer 35

Found female features of large eyes, prominent cheekbones, small nose + high eyebrows rated as highly attractive by white, hispanic + asian males

also Kim + Wheeler found that American and Korean students found attractive ppl to be more trustworthy + friendly

removes culture bias

Question 36

Explain the term Filter Theory

Answer 36

An explanation of relationship formation

States that a series of factors progressively limits the range of available partners to a much smaller pool

Question 37

What are the filters in filter theory?

Answer 37

social demography, similarity in attitudes and complementarity

Question 38

Describe the filter Social Demography

Answer 38

It refers to a wide range of features including proximity, religion, ethnicity, level of education etc

You’re more likely to meet ppl who are close + share several demographic circumstances, anyone who is too different is usually discounted

The outcome of this is homogamy; someone who is culturally + socially similar

Question 39

Describe the filter “similarity in attitudes”

Answer 39

We find partners who share out basic values, so we tend to discount those whop differ from us in attitudes

there is a need for partners in early stages to agree on basic values - promotes self-disclosure

similarity causes attraction - law of attraction

Question 40

Describe the filter Complementarity

Answer 40

similarity becomes less important as relationship develops + replaced by a need for a balance

in other words, at a later stage, opposites attract

e.g. one may like cooking and one may like cleaning up

its attractive bc it makes two partners feel they are whole together

Question 41

Supporting research (Winch)

Answer 41

Winch et al found evidence that similarity in attitudes are typical of earlier stages if relationships supporting the filter theory predictions
real world evidence too - increasing validity

Question 42

Research against the filter theory ?(Anderson)

Answer 42

Found in a longitudinal study that cohabiting partners became more similar in emotional response over time
goes against what filter theory predicts - it predicts that initially they’re similar snd over time they start to complement each other

Question 43

Lack of temporal validity with the filter theory

Answer 43

Online dating reduced the importance of some demographic variables such as proximity as you can meet ppl from anywhere

meaning ppl going on dates with ppl they may Never have met prior to online dating

this theory could be outdated, doesn’t withstand the test of time

Question 44

research against complementarity (Gruber-Baldini)

Answer 44

conducted a longitudinal study of married couples

found similarities in terms of intellectual ability and attitudinal flexibility increased over a 14 year period

reduces validity of theory - complementarity may not be as important as its said to be

Question 45

What is social exchange theory?

Answer 45

A theory of how relationships form and develop

It assumes that romantic partners act out of self - interest in exchanging rewards and costs

A satisfying relationship is maintained when rewards exceed costs and potential alternatives are less attractive