Section B: Relationships Flashcards
What is sexual selection?
It explains why some characteristics that might appear disadvantageous actually are an advantage in human reproductive behaviour, these are attractive to potential mates cause they provide an advantage for reproductive rights.
Define Anisogamy.
Refers to the differences between male and female sex cells (gametes).
How are male gametes?
Small, tiny mobile, continuous production and take very little energy to make.
How are female gametes?
Large, static, limited in number, take lots of energy to make.
Mate selection.
No shortage of fertile males but fertile women are a rare ‘resource’.
Females are more choosy - they need to make sure they get the right mate.
What are partner preferences?
There are 2 types of sexual selection (mating strategies): intra-sexual selection and inter-sexual selection.
What is Inter-sexual selection?
Between the sexes - strategies male and females use to select one another.
What is Intra-sexual selection?
Within each sex - strategies used by men to be the one that is selected.
Which mating strategy is preferred by women, why?
Inter-sexual selection - quality rather than quantity because they have limited time so they need to make sure they get the right one.
What is a female’s optimum mating strategy?
To select a genetically fit partner who is able and willing to provide resources.
Which psychologist developed the Sexy Son Hypothesis and the Runaway Process?
Fisher (1930)
What does the Runaway Process suggest?
It’s the female’s preference for a fit male that determines which feature is passed on to the offspring.
E.g. height
Explain the Sexy Son Hypothesis.
A female mates with a mate that has a desirable characteristic, and this ‘sexy’ trait is inherited by her son. This increases the likelihood that successive generations of females will mate with her offspring.
Which mating strategy is preferred by males, why?
Intra-sexual selection - quantity over quality, refers to the competition between males to be able to mate with a female.
Give and example of a behavioural and psychological consequence of intra-sexual selection.
For males to acquire fertile females and protect them from competing males, they may benefit from behaving aggressively and perhaps even thinking in a certain way.
What is the male’s optimum reproductive strategy?
To mate as many fertile females as possible, because of the continuous production, there’s no limit.
According to the sexual selection theory, how are the mates females look for?
Older males with wealth and resources.
According to the sexual selection theory, how are the mates males look for?
They look for youth and physical attractiveness, signs of good health, sign of fertility and reproductive role.
Evaluation of sexual selection theory.
Limitation
This theory ignores cultural differences. Partner preferences are influenced by rapidly changing social norms of sexual behaviour. Women’s greater role in workplace means they are no longer dependant on men and, therefore may no longer have a resource-orientated mate preference.
Evaluation of sexual selection theory.
Research support - Buss (1989)
He carried out a survey of over 10,000 adults in 33 countries, asking questions on the attributes a person preferred in their partner. He found that females placed greater value on resource-related characteristics and males valued reproductive capacity.
Evaluation of sexual selection theory.
Research support for inter-sexual selection - Clark and Hatfield (1989)
Male and female psychology students were sent out across a university campus, they approached other students asking if they would go to bed with them. No female student agreed, whereas 75% of males did.
This suggests females re choosier than males when it comes to selecting sexual partners.
Evaluation of sexual selection theory.
Research support - Singh (1993,2000)
What matters in male preference is not that female size as such but the ratio of waist to hip sizes. As long as the ratio is about 0.7 up to a point, this will be attractive to a male.
(it signifies that the women is fertile but nor currently pregnant)
Evaluation of sexual selection theory.
Research support - Waynforth and Dunbar (1995)
They studied lonely hearts advertisements in American newspapers. They found that women more than men tended to offer physical attractiveness and indicators of youth, men tended to offer resources.
Which 3 factors affect attraction?
- Self-disclosure
- Physical attractiveness
- Filter theory
What is self-disclosure?
Revealing personal information about yourself, it can strengthen a romantic bond when used appropriately.
Who proposed the Social penetration theory?
Altman and Taylor.
Explain the Social penetration theory
It states that by gradually revealing emotions and experiences and listening to their reciprocal sharing (self-disclosure), people gain a greater understanding of each other and display trust.
According to Altman and Taylor, which 2 elements does self-disclosure have?
Breadth and Depth, as both of these increase, romantic partners become more committed.
Explain the breadth and dept of self-disclosure.
Initially, we disclose a lot of information about ourselves, usually superficial.
As it develops, we disclose more information, self-disclosure becomes deeper.
Eventually, we reveal intimate high risk information.
What did Reiss and Shaver proposed?
Reciprocity of self-disclosure; both people should have some disclosure, this results in a successful romantic relationship.
Evaluation of the Social penetration theory.
Evidence to support - Sprecher and Hendrick (2004)
They studied heterosexual dating couples and found strong correlations between several measures of satisfaction and self-disclosure. Men and women who used self-disclosure were more satisfied and committed to their romantic relationships. This increases the validity.
Evaluation of the Social penetration theory.
Cultural bias - Tang et al. (2013)
He found that individualist cultures (i.e. USA) self-disclose significantly more sexual thoughts and feelings than those in collectivist culture (e.g. China)
Evaluation of the Social penetration theory.
Much of self-disclosure research is corretional.
With correlation we can’t establish cause and effect, only relationship.
Physical attractiveness - what is sexual selection?
Attributes and behaviours that increase reproductive success are passed on.
What did Shackelford and Larsen (1997) found?
That people with symmetrical faces are rated more attractive, because it suggests better genetic features. People are attracted to faces with neotenous (baby-face) features.
Explain the Halo effect.
One distinguishing feature (physical attractiveness) tends to have a disproportionate influence on our judgements of a person’s other attributes, e.g. their personality.
Explain Dion’s study on the Halo Effect.
He asked participants to rate photographs of three strangers for a number of different categories including personality traits such as overall happiness and career success.
When these results were compared to the physical attraction rating of each participant (from a rating of 100 students), the photographs which were rated the most physically attractive were also rated higher on the other positive traits.
What did Walster et al (1966) proposed?
The matching hypothesis, he said it’s possible that our assessment of our own attractiveness may play a role in the choice of romantic partners.
Explain The Matching Hypothesis.
It suggests that people choose a romantic partner who are roughly of a similar physical attraction to each other.
To do this we have to make a realistic judgement about our own ‘value’ to a potential partner.
Evaluation of physical attractiveness.
Research support for the Halo Effect - Palmer and Peterson (2012)
They found that physically attractive people were rated as more politically knowledgeable and competent than unattractive people.
Evaluation of physical attractiveness.
Individual differences - e.g. Towhey (1979)
Some people just don’t attach any importance to physical attractiveness.
He asked male and female participants to rate how much they would like a target individual based on their photograph + some biographical information, he found that participants that scored highly on the scale were more influenced by thee physical attractiveness of the target when making judgement about their likeability.
Evaluation of physical attractiveness.
Physical attractiveness consistent across cultures - Cunningham et al (1995)
He found that female features of large eyes, prominent cheekbones, small nose and high eyebrows were rated as highly effective y white, Hispanic and Asian males. This adds support because it can be generalised across different cultures
Evaluation of physical attractiveness.
Research support for matching hypothesis - Feingold (1988)
He carried out a meta-analysis of 17 studies and found a significant correlation in ratings of attractiveness between romantic partners, proving support for that couples have a similar physical attractiveness. High ecological validity.
Evaluation of physical attractiveness.
Evidence to contradict the matching hypothesis - Taylor et al (2011)
He studied the activity logs of popular dating sites. Online dater sought meeting with partners who were more physically attractive than them. They didn’t consider their own level of attractiveness.
Explain what is the Filter theory.
Kerckhoff and Davis (1962) suggested that when selecting partners from a range of those who are potentially available to them (a field of availables), people will use three filters to “narrow down” the choice to those who they have the best chance of a sustainable relationship with.
Which are the three levels of filters?
- Social Demography
- Similarity in Attitudes
- Complementarity
What is Social Demography? (1st level of filter)
Social variables such as age, social background, ethnicity, religion, etc. determine the likelihood of individuals meeting and socialising which will in turn influence the likelihood of a relationships being formed.
What is similarity in attitudes? (2nd level of filter)
Important in the development of romantic relationships but only couples who had been together less than 18 months because there is a need to agree over basic values and it promotes self-disclosure. Donn Byrne (1997) - similarity causes attraction as the law of attraction; If similarity doesn't exist, then the relationship is likely to fizzle out.
What is Complementarity? (3rd level of filter)
Ability of romantic partners to meet each other’s needs. Two partners complement each other when they have trades that the other lack. This is important for long-term couples because it gives them the feeling that together they form a hole, which adds depth to a relationship.
Evaluation of the Filter Theory.
Support from Kerckhoff and Davis’s original study.
They conducted a longitudinal study in which both partners in dating couples completed questionnaires to assess two main factors - similarity of attitudes and complementarity of needs. They found that closeness was associated with similarity of values but only for couples who had been together less than 18 months. For couples in longer term relationships, complementarity predicted closeness.
Evaluation of the Filter Theory.
Complementarity may not be central to all longer term relationships - Markey and Markey (2013)
They found that lesbian couples of equal dominance were most satisfied. Their sample of couples had been romantically involved for a mean time of more than 4 a half years.
This suggests that similarity needs rather than complementarity may be associated with long-term satisfaction.
Evaluation of the Filter Theory.
Similarity matters less in a relationship than whether partners believe themselves to be similar - Montoya et Al (2008)
They found the actual similarity affected attraction only in very short-term lab-based interactions. In real-world relationships perceived similarity was a stronger predictor of attraction.
Evaluation of the Filter Theory.
X…Temporal validity - social demography
This theory claims that demographic factors reduce the field of availables. Social changes such as online dating apps have increased the field of availables, so that location no longer limit partner choice.
What is the Social exchange theory?
An economic theory of relationships, they’re based on the assumption that people in romantic relationships both seek an ‘exchange’ of goods.
According to the SET, how is a satisfying committed relationship mantained?
When rewards exceed costs and potential alternatives are less attractive than the current relationship.
What did Thibault and Kelley suggest?
We try to minimalise the losses and maximise the gains (the minimax principle).
Outline the 2 ways to measure profit in a romantic relationship.
- Comparison level: amount of reward that you believe you deserve. We consider a relationship worth pursuing if our comparison level is high.
- Comparison levels for alternatives: do we believe we could gain greater rewards and fewer costs from another relationship or being on our own?
What are the 4 stages of relationship developement?
- Sampling: exploring rewards and costs
- Bargaining: beginning of a relationship
- Commitment: relationship becomes more stable
- Institutionalisation: partners are settled down
Evaluation of the SET.
Strength
Support from research studies: Kurdek (1995)
Evaluation of the SET.
3 limitations
- Artificial conditions of research
- Difficulty of measuring concepts used
- It’s claim that dissatisfaction arises only after a relationship stops being ‘profitable’
What is the Equity theory?
Economic theory of relationships, it acknowledges the impact of rewards and costs on relationship satisfaction but criticises the SET for ignoring the central role of equity.
What does equity mean?
Fairness
What did Walster et al (1978) said about equity?
What matters most with equity is that both partners’ level of profit is roughly the same.
What happens when there is a lack of equity in a relationship?
One partner overbenefits and the other underbenefits from the relationship, and this leads to dissatisfaction and unhappiness.
What’s a possible consequence of underbenefiting?
The underbenefitted partner is likely to feel greatest dissatisfaction, in the form of anger hostility, resentment and humiliation.
What’s a possible consequence of overbenefiting?
Likely to feel guilt, discomfort and shame.
In terms of Equity theory does size matter?
No, it’s the ratio of rewards and costs to each other that matters.
What are satisfying relationships marked by?
Negotiations to ensure equity.
What does equity theory predict a strong correlation between?
The greater the perceived inequity, the greater the dissatisfaction.
Consequences of inequity: changes in perceived inequity.
What makes us dissatisfied is a change in the level of perceived equity as time goes on.
Consequences of inequity: dealing with inequity.
The underbenefitted partner is usually motivated to make the relationship more equitable as long as they believe it’s possible to do so and the relationship is salvageable.
Outline the 4 principles of equity suggested by Walster et al.
- Profit: rewards are maximised and costs minimalized.
- Distribution: Trade-offs and compensations - to achieve fairness.
- Dissatisfaction: The greater the degree of perceived unfairness, + dissatisfaction.
- Realignment: Maintenance will continue, with attempts to realign equity.
Evaluation of Equity theory.
Strength
Evidence from real-world studies that confirm the equity theory: Utne et al
Evaluation of Equity theory.
2 limitations
- Individual differences.
- Cultural differences.
Rubult’s investment model
What are the 3 factors that maintain commitment?
- Satisfaction
- Comparison to alternatives
- Investment
What is satisfaction in terms of relationships, based on the concept of comparison level?
A satisfying relationship is judged by comparing rewards and costs, is seen as profitable it it has more rewards than costs.
What is investment?
Amount of any resources associated with your relationship, anything we will lose if the relationship breaks dow.
What is intrinsic?
Resources the individual has directly put into a relationship.
e.g. time, emotions, self-disclosure and money
What is extrinsic?
Resources that previously didn’t feature in the relationship.
e.g. mutual friends, houses, cars, children, memories
Which is the main psychological factor that causes people to stain in a romantic relationship according to Rusbult?
Commitment
Outline the 4 relationship mechanisms.
- Commitment: Acommodation.
- Put their partner’s interest first: Willingness to sacrifice.
- Forgive their partners for serious transgressions: Forgiveness.
- Positive about their partners and negative towards tempting alternatives: Ridiculing alternatives.
Evaluation of Rusbults investment theory.
2 strengths
- Evidence to support: Agnew
- Ability to explain abusive relationships
Evaluation of Rusbults investment theory.
2 limitations
- Poor methodological choices: use of self-report methods
- Oversimplification of the concept of investment
What does Duck argue bout relationships breakdown?
It’s not a one-off event but a gradual process that takes time and progresses through 4 specific stages.
What are the 3 core reasons why relationships breakdown according to Duck?
- Pre-existing doom - incompatibility + failure guaranteed from the start.
- Mechanical failure - 2 compatible individuals who grow apart (most common cause)
- Sudden death - infidelity, huge arguments
Which are the 2 other factors involved in relationships breakdown?
- Predisposing factors - internal factors. e.g. emotional instability, irritating habits…
- Precipitating factors - external factors. e.g. reduced proximity, other people, money…
Which are the 4 stages of Duck’s phase model of relationships breakdown?
- Intra-psychic phase
- Dyadic phase
- Social phase
- grave-dressing phase
Explain the intra-psychic phase.
Cognitive process where one partner privately perceives dissatisfaction, the may keep their thoughts to their own or share them with a close friend.
Subsequently weigh up pros and cons.
Explain the dyadic phase.
Stage where individuals cannot avoid discussing their relationship.
Explain the social phase.
Breakdown is made public, negotiations of the break-up start. (mutual friends are expected to choose a side)
Explain the grave-dressing phase.
Post-relationship view of the breakup. They put a favourable story attached to the breakdown for public consumption.
In which phases the relationships can still be ‘saved’?
Intra-psychic phase
Dyadic phase
Evaluation of Duck’s phase model.
3 limitations
- Research is retrospective.
- Cultural bias.
- It offers an incomplete model for explaining relationship dissolution.
Evaluation of Duck’s phase model.
strength
Useful application
What are 2 weaknesses of research into virtual relationships?
- Ignoring the fact that real relationships can have a virtual side too. e.g. Duggan
- Theories have failed to recognise the damage virtual relationships do.
Name 2 theories to explain self-disclosure in virtual relationships.
- Reduced cues theory.
2. The hyperpersonal model.
Explain the reduced cues theory - Sproull and Kiesler (1986)
Online relationships might be less open and honest than face-to-face ones, because in real life we are relying on a lot of subtle cues, i.e. facial expressions, and these cues are absent in virtual communications.
Reduced cues theory - what does reduction in communication cues leads to?
It leads to de-individuation as it diminishes people’s feelings of individual identity and brings on behaviours that people usually don’t display, i.e. aggression.
This may make online communications more aggressive, and the consequence of this is less self-disclosure from other people.
Explain the hyperpersonal model - Walther (1996, 2011)
As self-disclosure in online relationships happens earlier than in face-to-face ones, relationships quickly become more intense and feel more intimate.They can also end more quickly as it is difficult to sustain the same level of intense self-disclosure for a long time.
Participants in online conversation have more time to ‘edit’ their responses to present themselves in a more positive light; Walther calls this ‘selective self-presentation’. Projecting a positive image will then make an online partner want to disclose more personal information.
Absence of gating in virtual relationships.
The barriers/gates present in face to face interactions are absent in virtual relationships. As a result, self-disclosure becomes more frequent and deeper.
Virtual relationships are successful due to redirecting an individual’s attention away from superficial aspects, allowing more focus on self-disclosure.
Evaluation of virtual relationships in social media.
2 weaknesses
- Lack of research support. e.g. Tiddell
- Ignoring the view that relationships are multimodal.
Evaluation of virtual relationships in social media.
strength
Research support for the hyperpersonal model.
i.e. Whitty and Joinson
What are parasocial relationships? (Horton and Wohl)
Relationships that are one sided, unreciprocated, usually with a celebrity.
They generally occur between the ages of 11 and 17, the less educated an individual, the greater the level of attraction to media personalities.
How are parasocial relationships viewed now, and before?
before - abnormal, by individuals who were isolated, lonely or lacked social interaction
now - helpful for identity formation especially for young people
Levels of parasocial relationships.
McCutcheon et al + Maltby et al
McCutcheon developed the celebrity Attitude scale, this was used in a large scale survey by Maltby et al.
The stronger the feelings for media personality become the more likely the individual will immerse themselves in increased media presentations to ‘maintain’ the relationship. Reality starts to fade away.
Outline the 3 levels of parasocial relationship.
- Entertainment social: celebrities are viewed as sources of entertainment and fuel for social interaction.
- Intense-personal: measures strength of feelings and levels of obsession.
- Borderline pathological: featuring uncontrollable fantasies and extreme behaviours.
What is the Absorption Addiction Model?
Proposed by McCutcheon et al. (2002) and suggests that people pursue parasocial relationships due to deficits within their real life.
Relationships with celebrities are seen as an attempt to cope with or escape from reality. People may follow celebrities to gain a sense of personal identity and achieve a sense of fulfilment.
Define absorption.
Seeking fulfilment in celebrity worship motivates the individual to focus all their attention on the celebrity and identify with them.
Outline the 3 stages of the absorption-addiction model according to Giles and Maltby.
- entertainment social
(personal crisis/stressful life event) - intense-personal
- borderline pathological
Attachment theory of parasocial relationships.
It proposed by McCutcheon et al. (2002) and suggests that people pursue parasocial relationships due to deficits within their real life. Relationships with celebrities are seen as an attempt to cope with or escape from reality. People may follow celebrities to gain a sense of personal identity and achieve a sense of fulfilment.
Evaluation of parasocial relationships.
2 strengths
- Research support: Maltby et al
- Cultural validity. i.e Schmidt and Klimmt
Evaluation of parasocial relationships.
2 limitations
- Methodological issues: self report.
- Lack of supporting evidence: MCutcheon
