researchers for relationships Flashcards
Rewards theory
Saegert: Aimed to find evidence for the exposure effect, that we like things that are more familiar, females students thought they were doing research into taste, went into cubical and had to rate different liquids, different P’s went into the cubical a different number of times with another student, at the end of the experiment each P completed a questionnaire and the researchers were only interested in how attractive they rated the person they shared the cubicle with, it was found that their attraction was directly related to how many interactions they’d had.
Griffit: evaluations of strangers were positive when they were made in comfortable surroundings
Socio-biological
Davis: content analysis of personal ads, men look for health and offer resources females look for resources while offering youth and beauty, supporting idea of evolutionary-based gender differences in formation
Packer: Male lions on defeating dominant males will kill existing cubs, adaptive behaviour as eliminates competition for the cubs and allows faster genetic reproduction
SET
Rusbult: questionnaires over 7 month period concerning costs and rewards, SET doesn’t explain early relationship phase where balance of exchanges is ignored but later on costs were compared to level of personal satisfaction and so will affect if a relationship is maintained
Hatfield: those who felt under benefited felt angry and those who over benefited felt guilty, suggest regardless of whether individuals are benefitted they don’t want to maintain an unfair relationship
Equity theory
Yum: Studied different types of heterosexual relationships in 6 different cultures, maintenance strategies differed depending on levels of equity.
Dainton: studied 219 individuals in relationships finding those in relationships of perceived inequity had low relationship satisfaction but motivated to return to a equitable state to maintain the relationship
Ducks theory
Kassin: Women more likely to stress unhappiness as reason for breakup, men prefer a clean break suggesting gender differences
Akert: person who instigated breakup suffers fewer negative effects suggesting individual differences play a part
Lees theory
Lee: survey of 112 breakups, found this 5 stage patterns, negotiation and exposure stages were most distressing, individuals missing stages where in less intimate relationships
Relationship between sexual selection and human reproductive behaviour
Cartwright: women with symmetrical breasts are more fertile, supporting idea that body symmetry indicates reproductive fitness
Singh: Reviewed 50 years of beauty contest winners and found a small waist set against full hips was a consistent feature of female attractiveness
Clark: found males are more promiscuous, supporting gender differences in sexual selection
Sex differences in parental investment
Daly: in some mammals where offspring are born at an early stage of development and require intensive rearing, monogamy is often apparent because males contribute to feeding and caring for the young
Brase: males that demonstrate cues of positive disposition to parental investment were seen as more attractive to females
Parent offspring conflict
Rimm: sibling rivalry most intense when children are close in ages and need more resource investment, also more intense when one sibling is gifted
Sulloway: sibling rivalry occurs among spotted hyenas as soon as second cub is born, 25% killed by siblings
Trivers: herring gulls manipulate parents by appearing smaller than they are to elicit feeding
Influence of childhood on adult relationships
Research into securely attached individuals
Belsky: men engage in more positive and supportive interactions with partners than insecure men
Kirkpatrick: sample of over 300 dating couples for 3 years, observing secure males and females were most likely to have stable and satisfying relationship
Research into insecure avoidant
Millers: desired a greater number of sexual partners over the next 30 years
Feeney: found avoidant college students were most likely to have experiences relationship breakups
Interactions with peers
Meier: both type and quality of adolescent relationships related to adult ones
Bagwell: poor quality friendships were linked with low self-esteems which can affect confidence to build relationships
Connelly: found the level of intimacy in peer relationships laid the foundation for the degree of intimacy in young adult relationships
Influence of culture
Levine: asked young people from 11 countries if they’d marry someone they didn’t love if they had all the qualities they desired. More people in collectivist cultures said yes, 49% of Indians compared to 3% of British
Mckenry: culture where females have become more dependent and influential, divorce rates have raised considerable, suggesting lower divorce rates often seen in non individualistic cultures is not a reflection of happy marriages but of male dominance
Zardi: interviewed Muslim women of Pakistani origin who’d been raised in Canada about their attitude to arranged marriages, majority preferred marriages for love despite fathers being opposed. Showing the potential for discord within cultural groups that form minorities within more dominant cultures
