Filter theory

• Filter theory: An explanation of relationship formation. States that a series of different factors reduce the range of available romantic partners to a smaller pool of possibilities. These filters include social demography, attitudes and complementarity.
• Social demography (1st filter): This refers to geographical location and social class. This factor filters out a large number of available partners. Many relationships are formed by people who share demographic characteristics.
• Similarity in attitudes (2nd filter): We find partners who share our basic values attractive in earlier stages of the relationship. We tend to discount individuals who differ from us in their attitude.
• Complementarity (3rd filter): Similarity becomes less important as the relationship develops, this is instead replaced by a need for your partner to be able to balance each others traits with the others.